It brings up words like awesome, fantastic, tremendous and beautiful. It's the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. And it was one of the stops for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight this week from Northcentral Wisconsin.
"This is something else. All you have to do is look at the people that are here beside the Wisconsin boys," says Vet Tom Kloutier of Wausau.
For those Wisconsin boys, and women, the memorial also brings up memories of front lines seen, jobs done in battle and 400,000 people who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Vet Ralph Swanson says "I think about all my fallen friends, it sure is sad."
Fifty-six pillars surround the architectural marvel, representing all the states and territories at the time of WWII.
As you can imagine, Wisconsin's is the most popular for this Honor Flight. Underneath it, the veterans leave behind a picture and a flag belonging to Never Forgotten organizer Jim Campbell's dad. He served in WWII but never got to see the memorial to it. The tribute is a red, black and white and blue display of Jim's passion for this project.
"Remembering first and foremost friends that never came back or their friends that came back but didn't live long enough to visit this memorial that's been around since 2004," he says.
Amidst the pillars and water falls and beautiful artwork, now lies a piece of Wisconsin. A tribute to a comrade who couldn't make it along.
Tom Kloutier's buddy, Art, was all set to come along on the Honor Flight, but passed away in December. So he brought along some of Art's favorite Wisconsin hunting ground to spread on this hallowed ground.
"I drove out to his deer stand and got a handful of dirt and he's got a memorial here now."
