Georgia Magazine - November 2010 - (Page 21B)

What the Honor Flight guardians say: TED DIRKSCHNEIDER MARK BUCKNER World War II Army veteran Joseph Dean, right, of Lawrenceville, and Coweta-Fayette Trust Inc. Board Director Rodney Riggs receive certificates from Honor Flight Fayette Foundation Inc. Veteran Ernest Pound, from Woodstock, and Guardian Ted Dirkschneider, from Fayetteville, prepare for takeoff. WANDA HICKS Guardian Wanda Hicks, from Fayetteville, stands with vets John Little, from Hapeville, seated, and Kenneth Carithers, from Morrow. EMC involvement One of Honor Flight Fayette’s earlier 2010 flights was supported in part by a $10,000 donation made by the Operation Round Up Foundation of Coweta-Fayette Electric Membership Corp. (EMC), based in Palmetto. Coweta-Fayette Trust Inc. Board Director Rodney Riggs—also deputy chief of Newnan Police Department—along with EMC technician Brad Maddox helped some of Georgia’s “Greatest Generation” make the flight in May to see the World War II Memorial. “I was on four Honor Flights and feel blessed to have been a part of this wonderful mission. It has been awesome to see the veterans’ faces when they arrive at the airport, and so many people (current soldiers included) are clapping for them, shaking their hands and hugging them.” —Wanda Hicks, Fayetteville “World War II veterans are my heroes.” —Ted Dirkschneider, Fayetteville “My world would have been so different if these men and women had not stepped up for us. I was so impressed by the gratitude of Americans all along the trip who reached out to say, ‘Thank you.’” — Mickey Seigle, Fayetteville GEORGE KNIGHT “The greatest interactions by my vets were with other service men and women. It was as if the younger guys sought inspiration from the vets. And were the vets ever ready to share that inspiration—if it was only a firm handshake and a tear in their eye!” —Larry Robert, Decatur, Veterans Liaison with VITAS Hospice Veterans watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The oldest vet Vicky Rehberg, a customer service rep at Okefenoke Rural Electric Membership Corp., in Nahunta, accompanied her 98-year-old father, retired Master Sgt. Lester Tumlin, on an Honor Flight from Columbia, S.C., in May 2009. Tumlin spent 42 years working for the U.S. Army. He fought in France and Germany and received the Bronze Star during World War II, plus the Silver Star in Korea. “I did this to honor my father, who was in the Army in World War II. He passed away 15 years ago and never got to see his memorial. My father, as most men from that era, never spoke much about the war. He was in Europe with Gen. George Patton’s Third Army and saw his share of action.” —George Knight, Fayetteville November 2010 “I was pushing my dad in the wheelchair at the memorial, and he asked me to take him over to two Army soldiers who were there from Fort Dix, N.J. My dad extended his hand to shake with one of the soldiers and thanked him for his service. The soldier said, ‘No, thank you for your service, sir, you paved the way. Without your service, we would not be able to serve today.’” —Mollie Adams Burrows, Atlanta More online at www.georgiamagazine.org Master Sgt. Lester Tumlin 21B http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - November 2010

Georgia Magazine - November 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
A Tour of Honor
Making it Pay in Georgia
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Georgia Cooks
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - November 2010