I look at the Honor Flight as one way to show appreciation of military service to preserve our freedom and to our country.

Most of us fellows were drafted; we didn’t have a choice. In my case, I had just gotten married, and in about 2 weeks, the government gave us a brand new place to live. I had to give up my wife and my mother as they just wouldn’t take them along.

I lost my job at Lawrence Brothers, and I wasn’t a happy camper. They told me freedom was not free. I had it pretty good after basic training and was sent to dental lab school, where I spent 16 weeks graduating as a dental lab tech.