Honoring A WWII Hero on Memorial Day - Army Air Corpsman Thomas Casale

Today is Memorial Day here in the USA, and for many it marks the traditional start of summer with the Indy 500, Coke 600, Baseball, graduations, and more being celebrated. Memorial Day was created, however, to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. My grandfathers were both involved Stateside during WWII, my mom's father was an ironworker and actually worked on amphibious vehicles (called Ducks) for troop transport. My dad's father was part of the Civil Defense Force in Wisconsin. My uncle on my mother's side served during the Korean War. My wife's dad and uncles were enlisted during the Vietnam War. Needless to say, we appreciate the military and their families in our house.

In 2010, I became aware of a program called the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight in Milwaukee. The idea behind it is that, with more and more WWII veterans dying every day, the Honor Flights would take veterans to see THEIR memorial in Washington, DC at no cost to them or their families. When the Central Illinois Honor Flight started, I volunteered to be a guardian, that's someone who assists a veteran on their flight in the event that a family member cannot travel with them. I was blessed to meet an incredible man on that trip, and his name was Thomas Casale.

Tom was born in Pennsylvania, where he graduated High School. He joined the newly-formed U.S. Army Air Corps where he saw service in North Africa and Fairbanks, Alaska. After the war, he served in Guam, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and the United States.

There are so many stories he shared with me over our several-day trip to see the WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and other monuments in DC. What I will always remember about Tom is how energized and spry he was, even at 89 years old! He walked the entire time, no scooter, no wheelchair, nothing, and he did better than most of the guardians did! He was so amazingly proud of the work he had done in the Air Corps, especially when we went to the Air Force memorial which is what the Army Air Corps evolved into.

We had an amazing several days together, I tried to take in his stories like a sponge, especially since I no longer had my grandparents around to share their perspective of that era. I was saddened to learn that Tom passed away in 2020, however, I am sure proud to know that I was able to help him enjoy what was probably the last big adventure of his life.

If you have the ability to do so, I cannot recommend supporting the Honor Flight Network enough. With so many WWII veterans now having passed, they have expanded the network to take Korean and Vietnam vets to Washington DC to see their monuments, just like the WWII vets before them. These are the true heroes, and they deserve to never be forgotten.

#MemorialDay #HonorFlight #WWII