Korean War veteran, son, share Honor Flight experience

From Press-Citizen.com:  Korean War veteran, son, share Honor Flight experience

Kenneth Gerard never had a homecoming ceremony when he returned from the Korean War.
Tuesday night, he finally received a fitting reception.
Gerard and his son, Alan, were among the veterans who stepped off a plane at the Eastern Iowa Airport to hundreds of cheering, flag-waving friends and family members. The Iowa City men took part in an Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C., where they toured the nation’s war memorials and reflected on their years in the service.
Eastern Iowa Honor Flight formed two years ago with the goal of providing free trips for World War II veterans to visit their memorial, but as the number of living serviceman from that era dwindles, the organization now is filling the flights with an increasing number of Korean War vets.
Eighty-two veterans and their guardians left Cedar Rapids early Tuesday morning for the day-long trip, and about a third were Korean War veterans, said George Rickey, the public relations coordinator for Eastern Iowa Honor Flight.
“Unfortunately we’ve been playing beat the clock with Father Time with World War II veterans,” said Rickey, of Iowa City. “They’ve been passing on at such a great rate we’ve opened it up to other veterans.”
Since 2010, Eastern Iowa Honor Flight — the local branch of a national network — has taken 809 veterans to the capital at no cost, including four flights in 2012. When the next flight leaves from Cedar Rapids in the spring, Rickey expects there to be even more Korean War veterans, though volunteers with the organization continue to give presentations at retirement homes and work with area veterans offices to identify remaining World War II vets.
“I have a sneaking hunch that going forward the percentage is going to shift to predominately Korean War,” Rickey said.
For Kenneth Gerard, 77, a veteran of what has been called the Forgotten War, it was a day to look back on the 15 months he spent in Korea in the mid-1950s. The emotional trip was capped at the airport, where the father of four and grandfather to 10 was greeted by a group of family members — a moment he described as “unbelievable.”
“He’s pretty much a quiet guy anyway,” said Kenneth’s son, Alan, 47, a longtime Army reservist who served in Iraq from 2004-06. “He never talked about his service much growing up. All I remember is seeing it in a photo album. ... I think his generation was pretty quiet about it. I know he didn’t get any homecoming, so this was pretty much his homecoming at the airport.”
In 1954, knowing that being drafted was inevitable, Kenneth joined up with the Army a few months before his number was to be called so he wouldn’t have to attend basic training in the winter. He trained at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Belvoir in Virginia before being deployed with an engineering outfit to an Air Force base in Korea. After the war, he founded Gerard Electric in Iowa City.
Gerard said his time in Korea, which came several months after the armistice had been signed and the fighting had ceased, was unremarkable. Still, he said visiting the Korean War Memorial, along with several other monuments Tuesday, brought back memories from the service.
“Being with the other men, and being with my son” were the highlights of the whirlwind visit, said Gerard. “And I got to meet some older soldiers.”
While there is no Iraq War memorial in Washington, D.C., Alan Gerard, who was with the reserves for 24 years, said the trip was meaningful for him, as well.
“It means a lot to me just for the fact that I’m pretty sure I’m going to be six feet under by the time they build a memorial for my war,” he laughed.
Perhaps the most moving moment, though, came Wednesday for Kenneth Gerard. On the flight back from Washington, the veterans were given an envelope full of letters written by their loved ones, but Gerard had forgotten his reading glasses.
The next morning, when he had a chance to sit down and read the letters from his children and all 10 grandchildren, who are now grown, he choked back tears.
“It’s very emotional,” he said. “I didn’t expect that.”