World War II veteran DeWayne Mercier is pushed by his brother during a visit Sunday to the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va. Mercier is from Racine; his brother is from Annapolis, Md. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Washington — When Carl Oehlke woke up early Sunday, he carefully attached to his blue polo shirt his Purple Heart, the same medal President Franklin Roosevelt pinned on the 89-year-old New Berlin man at a naval hospital at Pearl Harbor more than six decades ago.

He also was careful to pack a couple of handkerchiefs.

Oehlke knew he would cry.

Oehlke and 299 other World War II veterans from Wisconsin spent the day in the nation's capital visiting monuments and memorials. The highlight for Oehlke, and what started tears flowing in his eyes, was the World War II Memorial.

"This is what I really wanted to see," said Oehlke, whose grandson pushed him in a wheelchair on the hot, humid day.

Like most of the veterans, Oehlke waited more than a year for a seat on a Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, which provides a free day trip to Washington, D.C., for World War II veterans. The group left Mitchell International Airport early Sunday and returned to Milwaukee late Sunday evening, spending the day visiting the Iwo Jima Memorial, Air Force Memorial, World War II Memorial, Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery to watch a changing of the guard ceremony.

After the group posed for a photo, Oehlke toured the World War II Memorial alongside hundreds of tourists and families. Etched along the base of monuments to the Atlantic and Pacific theaters were the names of places where key battles occurred.

Though the names might seem to tourists simply faraway places on a globe, to the 300 Wisconsin veterans, they're more than that - they're places where they shed blood, lost buddies and their innocence, and fought for freedom.

Like Iwo Jima. Okinawa. The Ardennes Forest.

Like Saipan.

Oehlke remembers being pinned down by heavy fire on the first day of the invasion of that island in the Pacific.

"I was talking to one of my corporals and when I looked up at him he had a bullet in the middle of his forehead. He was a good guy," recalled Oehlke, who earned the Purple Heart when a Japanese machine gunner on Saipan shot him in the hip a short time after his corporal died right next to him.

Though he spent months in a hospital recuperating, Oehlke figures it was for the best. Had he not been wounded on Saipan, he would have been sent to Iwo Jima.

Bud Krause, 85, of East Troy spent 11 months on Iwo Jima working as ground crew for a unit that flew P-51 Mustangs. Wearing an "Iwo Jima Survivor" cap, Krause looked up at the large memorial commemorating the famous photo of the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi. He didn't know a picture had been taken of the flag nor did he realize just how famous it was until much later.

As Krause gazed at the memorial, four women wearing T-shirts that read "We're Going to D.C. for an Honor Flight Surprise. Shhh . . . Don't tell Dad!" walked up and hugged him. Apparently no one did tell dad because Krause was flabbergasted that his four daughters, Kathy Fox of Milwaukee, Laurie Hintz of Waukesha, Sue Weber of Germantown and Linda Van Skyhawk of Minocqua flew out to meet him.

"I'd have never dreamed of this. What a shocker," said a delighted Krause.

Hank Kiernan, 82, of Brookfield was a Navy Seabee sent in the first wave to Okinawa. He remembers carrying the wounded onto a hospital ship and seeing a kamikaze pilot dive his plane into the hold of a cargo ship he was unloading.

"The first couple of days were quiet, and then it hit the fan," Kiernan said.

As the plane taxied away Sunday morning from the gate at Mitchell Airport, most of the veterans, who ranged from 82 to 97, were giddy. Marines seemed to find one another, sailors made fun of soldiers, guys asked each other when they were on this island or that battlefield. Veterans looked outside the windows to see military members lined up on the tarmac saluting and watched Milwaukee Fire Department trucks fire their water cannons.

Upon landing at Dulles Airport, the veterans walked down long stairways where more than 100 volunteers, including many active military members, cheered and clapped.

Everywhere they went, tourists who saw their shirts stopped and thanked them.

Stars and Stripes Honor Flights started in Wisconsin a few years ago, and the event has been so popular that hubs have opened in other cities including Madison, La Crosse and Wausau. But Sunday's trip was unusual - it was the first time a Boeing 747 jet was chartered to fly 300 Wisconsin veterans in one trip. Last year four flights carried a total of 307 veterans.

It cost $250,000 raised from donations, including a fund-raising effort from WTMJ-AM (620), to charter a 747, hire 12 buses for the day and pay for two box lunches and water for everyone. Organizers are hopeful another 747 can be chartered this fall to take another large group of about 300 veterans to Washington.

The reason for ramping up the flights is that an estimated 900 World War II veterans are dying each day, said Joe Dean, founder and president of Stars and Stripes Honor Flight. More than a dozen veterans who had been accepted to go on Sunday's trip died in the weeks before the flight.

Among them was John Guttmann, 88, of Cedar Grove, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February. When he received his navy blue Stars and Stripes Honor Flight polo shirt a few weeks ago, Guttmann was ecstatic, said his daughter Lori Retzlaff. Guttmann was a paratrooper with a glider unit in the 82nd Airborne in Europe.

"Oh my God, he was so excited. He got his shirt and wore it to my house and said, 'Look, I've got my shirt,' " his daughter said.

Guttmann died April 23. He was buried in his Stars and Stripes Honor Flight shirt, and the flag from his casket was carried to the World War II Memorial on Sunday.

On the flight home, all the veterans were treated to mail call, something everyone intuitively remembered from World War II. Unbeknownst to them, flight organizers contacted their families and friends, who wrote heartfelt letters and cards addressed to Dad, Grandpa, Papa, Uncle, Brother.

As their names were shouted, each raised his hand - just as they did 65 years ago.

Even though most of the veterans were exhausted by the time the plane landed after 10:30 p.m., they perked up to see a couple of thousand people crowding the airport - a brass band, honor guards, bagpipers, families, friends, military members, firefighters, law enforcement officers and well-wishers.

Many waved U.S. flags, red, white and blue balloons, signs with their loved one's name and one large black and white photo of a veteran when he was 65 years younger. They were there to say simply: Thank you, and welcome home.

To make a tax-deductible donation, send a check payable to Stars and Stripes Honor Flight and mail it to P.O. Box 636, Port Washington, WI 53074.