MONROE - Helen Hefty will be honored as a hero. Over 65 years after service in the Army and at the age of 90, Hefty will be flown out to Washington, D.C. to view the nation's war memorials.
Hefty, and her son, Burt, will share the trip of a lifetime. Helen is one of four World War II veterans from Monroe that will be flying to Washington, D.C. as part of the Badger Honor Flight on Saturday, April 2.
After serving two years in the Army during World War II, Helen cannot wait for the trip.
"I liked to see the Women's Memorial because I'm part of that," Hefty said.
Burt, a veteran himself, is just as excited to be traveling along as her guardian.
"To get her there is worth it," Burt said.
Hefty, originally from New York, enlisted in the military at the age of 21, after seeing a sign in a window.
"It was on the spur of the moment," Hefty said.
Her family took her decision well; Hefty's brothers also served in the military. Her older brother enlisted two years prior to her, and her younger brother soon followed.
She was stationed at the hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas, the same place she did her basic training from 1943 to 1945.
A year and a half into her tour, she met her husband William "Bud" Curtis Hefty, and three months later they were married.
Following a routine physical for a reassignment, she was honorably discharged.
"I was set to go to Australia, and I found out I was pregnant so I couldn't go," Hefty said.
The happy couple moved back to Bud's home town of Rice Lake, where they had three of their four children. Their first child, a little girl, was named after the woman who stood up in her wedding.
The family moved to Madison, where Burt was born in 1954. For 25 years, both Helen and her husband worked at the Oscar Mayer company in Madison.
Following the death of her husband in 1996, Helen moved to Monroe to be closer to one of her daughters. Helen worked at her daughter's shop, The Wooden Spoon, until it closed.
Burt's mother-in-law went on the first Badger Honor Flight last spring and enjoyed it. And so soon after talking with Burt and his mother-in-law, Helen decided she too wanted to make the trip.
Helen, and her guardian will arrive at the Dane County Regional Airport between 4:30 and 7 a.m. to check-in on Saturday. Helen and other veterans will receive red jackets, while their guardians will receive blue jackets, so tour managers can associate who is with the tour. The flight will take them to the Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
Memorials that will be seen on the trip include Arlington National Cemetery, Iwo Jima, WWII Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.
The Honor Flight is a non-profit organization, with the Badger Honor Flight branch starting in Spring, 2010. BHF flew two missions last year, escorting almost 200 WWII vets to D.C. This BHF will take close to 100 vets to Washington.
The first Honor Flight took place in May, 2005.
And the list of interested WWII continued to grow. With the expansion in numbers, a partnership with HonorAir in Hendersonville, North Carolina was created to form the "Honor Flight Network."
By the end of last year, in November 2010, HFN transported more than 63,200 veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
Other WWII veterns attending the trip on Saturday include: Monroe residents Joseph Ganshert, Thomas Runkle, Jr., and Sylvan Waage, as well as Herbert VonArx of New Glarus.
Hefty, and her son, Burt, will share the trip of a lifetime. Helen is one of four World War II veterans from Monroe that will be flying to Washington, D.C. as part of the Badger Honor Flight on Saturday, April 2.
After serving two years in the Army during World War II, Helen cannot wait for the trip.
"I liked to see the Women's Memorial because I'm part of that," Hefty said.
Burt, a veteran himself, is just as excited to be traveling along as her guardian.
"To get her there is worth it," Burt said.
Hefty, originally from New York, enlisted in the military at the age of 21, after seeing a sign in a window.
"It was on the spur of the moment," Hefty said.
Her family took her decision well; Hefty's brothers also served in the military. Her older brother enlisted two years prior to her, and her younger brother soon followed.
She was stationed at the hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas, the same place she did her basic training from 1943 to 1945.
A year and a half into her tour, she met her husband William "Bud" Curtis Hefty, and three months later they were married.
Following a routine physical for a reassignment, she was honorably discharged.
"I was set to go to Australia, and I found out I was pregnant so I couldn't go," Hefty said.
The happy couple moved back to Bud's home town of Rice Lake, where they had three of their four children. Their first child, a little girl, was named after the woman who stood up in her wedding.
The family moved to Madison, where Burt was born in 1954. For 25 years, both Helen and her husband worked at the Oscar Mayer company in Madison.
Following the death of her husband in 1996, Helen moved to Monroe to be closer to one of her daughters. Helen worked at her daughter's shop, The Wooden Spoon, until it closed.
Burt's mother-in-law went on the first Badger Honor Flight last spring and enjoyed it. And so soon after talking with Burt and his mother-in-law, Helen decided she too wanted to make the trip.
Helen, and her guardian will arrive at the Dane County Regional Airport between 4:30 and 7 a.m. to check-in on Saturday. Helen and other veterans will receive red jackets, while their guardians will receive blue jackets, so tour managers can associate who is with the tour. The flight will take them to the Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
Memorials that will be seen on the trip include Arlington National Cemetery, Iwo Jima, WWII Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.
The Honor Flight is a non-profit organization, with the Badger Honor Flight branch starting in Spring, 2010. BHF flew two missions last year, escorting almost 200 WWII vets to D.C. This BHF will take close to 100 vets to Washington.
The first Honor Flight took place in May, 2005.
And the list of interested WWII continued to grow. With the expansion in numbers, a partnership with HonorAir in Hendersonville, North Carolina was created to form the "Honor Flight Network."
By the end of last year, in November 2010, HFN transported more than 63,200 veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
Other WWII veterns attending the trip on Saturday include: Monroe residents Joseph Ganshert, Thomas Runkle, Jr., and Sylvan Waage, as well as Herbert VonArx of New Glarus.