Whitmer Among Veterans Recognized On Western North Dakota Honor Flight
Honored at Last:
Wolf Point native Clint Whitmer, 80, had the privilege to participate in the Western North Dakota Honor Flight out of Minot, N.D., recently, fulfilling an opportunity he had to pass on six years ago.
Whitmer, accompanied by his brother Boone, was aboard the Western North Dakota Honor Flight from Minot to Washington, D.C., on Sunday, April 27, with around 120 other area veterans in recognition of their military service.
He was invited and scheduled to participate in an honor flight out of Williston in 2019, however he was unable to go due to getting sick and transferred to the Eastern Montana Veterans Home. Despite missing out then, organizers of the honor flight wanted to make good on Whitmer’s application by allowing him to board this year’s Western North Dakota Honor Flight.
“They still honored that application and my brother said that he would go with me this time, so that made it possible for me to go,” Whitmer said. “I was quite surprised that they honored that.”
The veterans’ itinerary for the overnight visit to Washington D.C. was jam-packed with tours and activities, and they were specially escorted from place to place by the United States Police.
Whitmer noted only three parties have the honor of being escorted by the police: the president, vice president and honor flight veterans.
Not only were they escorted by law enforcement wherever they went, but he explained everyone they made contact with treated them with kindness and respect, something he appreciated.
“When we moved between memorials, there was a police car with flashing lights leading us and we did not have to stop at any intersection,” Whitmer said, noting they even had special guides at each location. “They treated us very, very good.”
A large number of volunteers accompanied the veterans on the honor flight in order to provide assistance to those who had more difficulty getting around. Whitmer expressed gratitude for the provision of a wheelchair for him to get around throughout the trip.
“I do not have the stamina to do all of the walking,” Whitmer said. “That (wheelchair) was very important.”
Over the course of the 24 hours he spent in Washington D.C., Whitmer was amazed at all of the monuments and artifacts representing the history of the United States, including the Lincoln Memorial, changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and many more.
“There were all these places we visited I was not aware that there were so many places we could visit,” he said, adding the veterans were even forwarded an opportunity to tour parts of the U.S. Capitol building not generally open to the public.
While visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Whitmer noted he was able to find a couple of names of men he knew and create a couple of rubbings of the names to take home. The names included Darryl R. Juel and Fred D. Whitaker Whitmer was Whitaker’s medic after he suffered a gunshot from a sniper while in Vietnam in 1969.
“I kept him alive to the (medical evacuation) helicopter, but he passed in the helicopter,” he said. “He is missed.”
Meanwhile, Whitmer met Juel closer to home in Scobey where they drilled a water well for Juel’s family. He added Juel joined the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating high school and was killed in action while fighting in the Battle of Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War.
When asked about the last time Whitmer boarded a commercial flight, he could not recall. The last memory he has of flying is a quick up-and-down flight in a B-17 Flying Fortress in Billings in 2019.
The recent Western North Dakota Honor Flight, he noted, was likely the last flight he will ever take in his lifetime.
“I probably will not fly again either at my age,” Whitmer said.
As the veterans came off the plane in Washington D.C., he explained there was a line of people and government officials ready to shake their hands and thank them for their service. “It was kind of our coming home from Vietnam that we did not get when we returned from Vietnam,” he said, adding he appreciated that the government was honoring the reality that he was required to serve in the Vietnam War. When the veterans aboard the Western North Dakota Honor Flight returned to the Minot International Airport on that Monday afternoon, a crowd of hundreds of people were waiting in the lobby to welcome them home.
That was a sight and feeling Whitmer will never forget, as he and many other veterans were never so warmly welcomed home after serving in a war they were drafted for.
Whitmer reflects on his recent trip to Washington D.C. with the utmost gratitude for how he was treated, as well as for even being asked to join the group for the opportunity of a lifetime.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Whitmer said.
