YEARS OF SERVICE, A LIFETIME OF HONOR, BROCK'S SEAT RESERVED ON HONOR FLIGHT

The mission for Honor Flight Bluegrass is to locate and identify eligible veterans to visit their respective war memorials located in Washington, DC. and to provide each veteran with the opportunity to receive the accolades for service from a grateful nation to a Hero’s Welcome Home.

The Honor Flight Network Chapter is based in Louisville, and is recognized as a 501(C)(3), all-volunteer, non-profit organization created to honor America’s WWII, Korean, and Vietnam veterans for all their sacrifices.

These heroes are flown to Washington, DC and provided with a first class, VIP, Police escorted tour to each of their respective memorials to honor their service, sacrifices and create the greatest memory of a lifetime.

Priorities are given in the order of World War II, Korean, and Vietnam War Veterans.

By the time this week's edition of The Current arrives in hundreds of households and hits the news stands Oct. 20, there will be 15 WWII, 43 Korean, and 22 Vietnam Veterans who are scheduled to fly out of Louisville to Washington DC. for the next flight.

Taking a seat on that aircraft will be Fulton resident and World War II Veteran George Brock, accompanied by his grandson, Brock Dean.

Mr. Brock will be 95 in December.

"I consider it an honor," Mr. Brock said in an interview last week.

"I have visited Washington, D.C. two other times. Once "Doc" Owens and I went to Williamsburg and took a day trip to Washington," he recalled.

When a youthful, 18-year-old George Brock was drafted in 1945 out of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., he had never been more than 100 miles from his home in eastern Kentucky.

His older brother, Dean, volunteered, and another older brother, Doug, entered the Navy at 16, after the brothers' mother signed off. All total his siblings included one sister and five brothers.

"Back then, there was something called the Victory Corp, in high school. We would collect scrap metal, it would be melted down and used for ammunition or armor. Everyone was involved in the war effort. I have often said, too, women won this war. So many of them went to work in the factories, when men were drafted," he said.

Mr. Brock completed Basic Training at Camp Rucker, Ala. and became part of the 125th Infantry Replacement Center.

"That's for, when we would fill in, for boys who had...been eliminated. I did become Squad Leader. A Squad is one fourth of a Platoon," he said.

The humble, soft-spoken Veteran took a brief moment to display a hint of pride, as he recalled "I never fell out on sustained marches. Those would last four hours, never stopping. Others much bigger than I didn't do that."

He also remembered an encounter with a General, early on in his service, when the task at hand was to display a full Field Pack, and its contents, to the high ranked officer.

"The General came by, and he looked at my display, of all of the items in my Field Pack. He said to me, soldier, where is your razor? Where is your shaving cream? Well, I said I didn't have any. Why, I didn't even have any whiskers at that time. The General said, well, you go and get you a razor and some shaving cream anyway!" Mr. Brock said.

After Basic Training was over, the young soldier found himself enroute to Okinawa, aboard a "Troop Train." The route included Fort Riley, Kansas, Cheyanne, Wyoming, and finally, Fort Lawton in Seattle, Washington.

"That's where I heard the most scary sound. It was fog horns in the Puget Sound. I had never even seen a towboat, much less heard that sound of the fog horn. It was just a lonely sound to me," he said.

When asked if, or when, he was ever fearful of what would transpire, once he shipped out, from his native land, to a distant Okinawa, Mr. Brock nodded.

"There was fear. My two older brothers were already serving, and both had already been injured. My older brother was a Medic in Belgium. He was wounded, in his pickup, shot through the back of his seat. My other brother, Doug, was injured in the Gulf of Mexico. He received a head injury and was in the Naval Hospital for about 17 months," he said.

He was, what he calls, a "Utility Man" in the Army, with five different MOS, or Military Occupational Specialty codes to his credit.

"I was an Amphibian Truck driver, really because my dad was in the lumber business and they knew I could drive a truck. They call those trucks "Ducks" now, I think. We used Amphibian Trucks, which could run on land and in water, to haul supplies to ocean liners which could not get in, close to shore. Japan had purposefully destroyed the harbors. Okinawa was also known for a lot of coral, caves, and they fortified these places. You know we had to be careful. The ships were far enough out, not to draw fire. The lights on our Ducks, they reflected down. I hauled off Yellow Beach, near where the Marines went ashore Easter Sunday. We would pull the Duck up beside the ship. We were aware, we had to be careful returning to shore," he said.

"There was danger. Over there, we were faced with protecting ourselves and the people around us. When the Ducks were no longer needed, I was transferred to the Air Force, the Bomb Squadron, remnants of the 8th Air Force in Europe. When they left Okinawa, then it was that I was a part of the Materiel Squadron," Mr. Brock said, in referring to supplies, equipment and weapons in military supply chain management.

"I wound up as a Sergeant. I had 18 months of actual service time, and was discharged for three more years in 1949, inactive. At that time, everyone was dreading the Russians. That was the reason to keep us on hold," he said.

One of his most memorable days, he said, was when he heard President Truman give the order to the Japanese, to surrender.

"He told them to surrender, or we will force you to," he said.

The process by which Mr. Brock acquired his boarding pass to join the upcoming distinguished passenger list, began with his son-in-law, Mike Milner, driving him to Paducah a few months ago, to see a B25 air craft.

"When we went to Paducah to see the B25, the man in charge there asked if I would want to go with the to D.C? Michael thought I could, so then, of course, an application was sent and there were lots of instructions in the application process, every "i" had to be dotted and every "t" crossed," Mr. Brock said.

"I was asked recently, how much it means to me, to be able to take this flight and see these memorials. I have seen the Vietnam and Korea memorials, but not the WWII memorial. I think, I would say, it is good to be an American. I am prouder than ever," he said.

Mission Director of Honor Flight Bluegrass is Mike DiGiuro and Chairman of Honor Flight Bluegrass is Jeff Thoke.

After a two-year halt due to COVID, this day long trip for Veterans is to depart Louisville Muhammad Ali

International Airport at approximately 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 20, and return at 10 p.m.

The public may greet the Veterans when they return.

(Editor's Note: According to the Honor Flight Bluegrass website, their Mission is to fly American’s Veterans (from Kentucky and Southern Indiana), all expense paid, to Washington DC to visit the War Memorials dedicated to honor their service and sacrifices. Honor Flight Bluegrass extends gratitude to "the estate of Cynthia Shaw, the Honorable Order of the Kentucky Colonels, Louisville Regional Airport Authority, and all others for making the only flight of this year possible.")