Local World War II vets take to the skies above Weiser

Former U.S. Navy Coxswain LaDell Merk, 96, climbed into the cockpit of a Boeing Stearman biplane, giving the thumbs up sign as it taxied toward the runway at Weiser Municipal Airport on Monday.
 Only minutes later, the plane, piloted by Dream Flights president and co-founder, Darryl Fisher, was airborne, a small crowd of onlookers watching and clapping as it disappeared into the distance.
 Dream Flights is a non-profit founded by Darryl and wife, Carol. The organization was in town this week as part of its Operation September Freedom, which aims to give about 1,000 World War II veterans all over the country the chance to fly in a war-era plane.
 “We are honoring World War II vets,” Darryl said. “All we are flying this year is World War II vets between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30. It’s the last mission for World War II vets in history and we are excited.”
 Dream Flights, based in Carson City, Nev., owns six Boeing Stearman biplanes, each built between 1940 and 1945.
 “Their only purpose was to train pilots,” said Darryl, prior to the flight. “As soon as the war was over, they quit producing them. This is a 1943 model. It’s also modified with the 450 hp engine.”
 About 20 minutes after take off, the plane returned, Merk all smiles.
 “Now I know why the Snake River is called the ‘Snake River. It was really nice,” he said of the flight. “This plane is so solid. Other planes, you can see the wings flapping up and down, but this didn’t do that. It’s just really solid.”
 Debra Ballard could hardly contain her excitement as her father, Hugh Mayse, was helped into the cockpit following Merk’s flight.
 Mayse, 98, served in the Pacific Theater as a nose gunner aboard a B-24 Liberator and witnessed the Japanese surrender in 1945.
 “To have him honored like this … he deserves it so much, he is so special,” said Ballard, who walked around the plane with her camera, looking for the perfect shot of her hero. Ballard was employed at the Weiser Signal American in the 1970s.
 “He was working at Boeing when the war broke out, but he couldn’t enlist right away because he had to train the Rosie Riveters,” she said. “Our dad used to be a private pilot. He and my mother used to fly to the beach and take a picnic basket with them. That was in the 1940s.”
 There have been thousands of similar stories about the men and women who served during World War II, but many of them are being lost as age catches up with what has been called the “Greatest Generation.”
 “There aren’t many of them left,” said Weiser Airport Manager Jim Metzger.
 Both Merk and Mayse are residents at The Cottages of Weiser Assisted Living Community.
 Cottages owner and CEO Mark Maxfield and Darryl are members of the board for the National Center for Assisted Living.
 “It was very fortunate: He (Darryl) gave a presentation at a board meeting and as soon as I heard it, I said, ‘I’m in!’” Maxfield said. “This is the highlight of my career.”
 Darryl, who has been a pilot since he was 19, said the idea for Dream Flights was hatched during a trip with his father, an Oregon resident, to pick up the same model biplane in Mississippi. The plane was a private restoration project.
 “We went there – and I’m in the senior living business – and I thought how cool it would be if, during our gas stops, we called a couple care center facilities and gave a couple of their veterans flights,” Darryl explained. “We show up at the airport and there are 20 to 30 people there and I gave a flight. Afterwards, the man’s wife came up and put a hand on my shoulder and said, ‘You have no idea what you’ve just done for my husband.”
 That was March 29, 2011 in Oxford, Miss.
 “When I came home and told my wife, she said we can’t stop doing this and she started a foundation.”
 Since then, Dream Flights has given more than 4,500 flights. Darryl has piloted 1,500 of those himself.
 Monday’s flights wouldn’t have happened for Merk and Mayse without the Weiser Airport.
 “They called to see if they could use the airport, so we said of course, and tried to make it really easy and comfortable for them,” said Metzger. “It’s a great facility. Our community is really fortunate to have this. It makes stuff like this possible.”
 Weiser Mayor Randy Hibberd said it was a privilege to see Merk and Mayse fly one more mission.
 “The debt that we owe to these guys cannot be expressed,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of reading about World War II and it’s just incredible what they did.”
 For more information on Dream Flights, visit www.dreamflights.org.
 

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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