For Don Wolford, vice president of operations and chief financial officer of the $60 million Winston-Salem City Employees Credit Union, the Oct. 26 airline flight from Winston-Salem to Washington, D.C. was both memorable and poignant.
That's because the World War II "Flight of Honor" he joined included a group of local volunteers honoring war vets under a year-long national campaign arranging trips for aged vets to the newly constructed World War II Memorial on the Mall.
The Mall to which the war vets have been making pilgrimages, accompanied by their families, has seen thousands of visitors. For Wolford the Oct. 26 flight in the company of three war vets brought back memories of his own late father, a U.S. Marine who served in the South Pacific and received a Purple Heart.
"This visit is not so much about my father or me but about the veterans as a group and what they did for us, something that is so valuable to whom we are today," said Wolford, noting he was in the company of CEO Ron Fields of Pen Air FCU of Pensacola, Fla., who made a similar trip last month.
Wolford was selected as part of the North Carolina Triad Flight of Honor, a series of three trips being made to the D.C. memorial. "I'll be responsible for making sure that the veterans assigned to me have a good trip and have all their needs met," he said.
--jrubenstein@cutimes.com
That's because the World War II "Flight of Honor" he joined included a group of local volunteers honoring war vets under a year-long national campaign arranging trips for aged vets to the newly constructed World War II Memorial on the Mall.
The Mall to which the war vets have been making pilgrimages, accompanied by their families, has seen thousands of visitors. For Wolford the Oct. 26 flight in the company of three war vets brought back memories of his own late father, a U.S. Marine who served in the South Pacific and received a Purple Heart.
"This visit is not so much about my father or me but about the veterans as a group and what they did for us, something that is so valuable to whom we are today," said Wolford, noting he was in the company of CEO Ron Fields of Pen Air FCU of Pensacola, Fla., who made a similar trip last month.
Wolford was selected as part of the North Carolina Triad Flight of Honor, a series of three trips being made to the D.C. memorial. "I'll be responsible for making sure that the veterans assigned to me have a good trip and have all their needs met," he said.
--jrubenstein@cutimes.com
