Cleared for takeoff: Illinois military veterans honored to take flight to Washington, DC

Richard "Mick" Bray was just eight years old when he heard that Japanese forces had launched a surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.

A cousin of Bray's father, Fred Bray, had driven out to the family farm near Chatham to tell them about the assault which would draw the U.S. into World War II.

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Mick Bray admitted he didn't know where Pearl Harbor was at the time but he understood enough to know the circumstances were bad.

Bray recalled something else from that day: his cousin leaving the farm with a promise.

"He told us (he was going to sign up with) the Marines (the next day)," Bray said. "That influenced me. He did go into the Marines and (served) in the Pacific Theatre."

Bray served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force in Korea and later in the Illinois Air National Guard.

The 88-year-old retired farmer from Virden is one of 92 men and women who will be part of the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight from Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

It will be the first flight for the Springfield area group that allows veterans to visit memorials dedicated to their service arms in the nation's capital in more than two-and-a-half years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The trips are free for veterans and guardians and Tuesday's flight is one of five planned for this year, said Land of Lincoln Honor Flight president Joan Bortolon.

The National Honor Flight Organization suspended all flights nationwide from March 2020 through Aug. 31, 2021, in response to COVID-19 health concerns, restrictions and public availability of the memorials in Washington. In all, the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight had to scuttle 16 trips since March 2020.

"I am extremely excited that we are returning to our mission, and we are beginning to serve our veterans," said Bortolon, noting the last flight was completed in October 2019. "We are happy they were patient enough to stick with us during these 30 months.

"As I've said before, we wanted (to do these flights) well and we wanted to do them safely. That's why we decided to wait until we knew things were settled down with the pandemic."

According to Bortolon, one World War II veteran will be on Tuesday's Honor Flight along with 26 Korean era veterans and 65 Vietnam era veterans.

Two women veterans--Rita Rey of Springfield, who served in the Women's Army Corps, and Bonita Blakey of Waverly, who served in the Air Force and the Illinois Army National Guard--will be part of the flight, Bortolon said.

"We are always thrilled to have our female veterans on flights," Bortolon said. "It doesn't happen very often, but we're always extremely excited when we have that representation. We'd love to have them on every flight."

Others from Springfield who are part of Tuesday's flight include: Daniel "J.D." Smith, who served in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army during the Vietnam era; Ed Jones, who served in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam era; John "Clark" Esarey, who served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean era; Glen Chapman, who served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam era; Steve Boyce, who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era and Hal Bast, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam era.

Other Honor Flights from Springfield will take place July 19, Aug. 30, Sept. 27 and Nov. 1.

Applications are available at the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight website, by email at JMB4604@aol.com or by calling (217)-585-1219 or (217) 652-4719.

'A good bunch of guys'

Mick Bray got the itch to fly as a five-year-old after coaxing his father to take him on a ride on a Ford trimotor.

After graduating from Virden High School, Bray hadn't planned on going to college, until an uncle convinced him to attend the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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There he joined the Air Force ROTC before graduating with a degree in agriculture science in 1955.

Bray was in pilot training for a year before going to Korea in 1958, when some 46,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed. Bray was part of the 311th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Osan Air Base.

While Bray arrived after the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953, the area was still fraught with tension as the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that formed a buffer between North and South Korea attested.

"We didn't trust each other," Bray said recently at his Virden home. "We still don't."

The F-86 Sabre fighter jets that Bray flew had "hot guns," meaning the weapons were ready to fire live rounds.

Bray, who also served in Japan and Taiwan, returned to the U.S. in 1959 and eventually joined the Illinois Air National Guard as part of the 170th Tactical Squadron in Springfield in 1963.

"They needed pilots and one of the master sergeants in the area talked to me and it looked like a good fit," Bray recalled. "I thought I could farm and fly on the weekends."

Sure, Bray admitted, there was a little bravado among the pilots, and maybe some "Top Gun" antics.

"I guess looking back there was some buzzing that didn't need to be," he said. "Sometimes, I was flying wing and I'll have to blame the flight commander. My duty was to fly his wing, so I left it up to his judgment."

Overall, Bray said he had a fondness for his commanders and his fellow pilots.

"I hate to admit it, but most were better than me," he said. "A good bunch of guys. I'm glad I was in the Air Force and in the Air Guard. I'm sorry we have to have wars. Unfortunately, human beings seem not to be perfected yet."

Bray was nudged to take the Honor Flight by a family friend, Vi Lanum of Springfield, although Bray had looked into earlier.

"I picked up the ball ran with it," Lanum said. "And I got a home run. It's an incredible honor to be his guardian for the day."

Lanum's late father, Robert Lanum, was a Korean War veteran in the U.S. Army Reserve. Vi Lanum was part of a U.S. Army Reserve Company when she lived in Arizona and later a Combat Ready Unit out of Peoria, Ill., where she hauled jet fuel.

Bray said while he appreciates the Honor Flight organizers and will be thinking of fellow veterans Tuesday, he will also be thinking about family who supported him through his service.

"It was difficult (for my then-wife) to support me as a pilot because we had a couple of kids right away. It worried her," said Bray, who has since remarried and has three sons. "Sometimes we honor the veterans and forget about the support we've all had. This (Honor Flight) cautions me not to forget those supports are needed."

Paying tribute

Rita Rey admitted she was at crossroads in life after losing a well-paying sales job with the Olivetti company in St. Louis in the late 1960s.

Both of her brothers had served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam War and her father, Chester Heidbrink, was part of the Army after the liberation of France in 1944, so Rey decided to join the Women's Army Corps in 1969.

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"There was a bond," Rey said of the experience. "It was a sisterhood. Men treated us like they would anyone else in the Army."

As a teletypist of highly secured coded messages, Rey had a top secret clearance at Fort Ritchie in Cascade, Maryland.

"(The fort was) inside of a mountain," recalled Rey. "It was fully contained."

It also was home to a military intelligence training center where "Ritchie Boys" learned Morse code, analyzed aerial photography and were trained in psychological warfare, according to an online history of the fort, which closed in 1998.

Rey went on to become an information specialist, writing news releases and editing a newspaper while stationed at the Institute of Pathology, a tri-service between the U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy in Silver Spring, Md.

Rey's then-roommate was a medic stationed at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center so Rey would go with her to visit patients. That experience and working as a bartender at an NCO club gave her a glimpse into the casualties of the war.

"It wasn't like I was in the midst of it, but I saw the aftermath of it," she said. "It was heartbreaking."

Rey's brother, who lives in Granite City, Ill., is on full disability after being exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. Rey said a cousin died from complications from Agent Orange several years ago.

"It was truly a waste of so many young men's lives," said Rey, who also recalled her brother being spat on by protesters while he was at an airport in California.

Rey was in the Army at a time when women were not allowed to go into combat have any weapons training.

"Everything for women was limited then," Rey said. "I'm proud now that's a woman's choice. What bothered me the most growing up was not having choices. If a woman wants to fight for her country, she has that right."

Rey raised three daughters and later became a realtor and then a real estate appraiser. She lived in San Antonio for 16 years before moving back to Springfield several years ago. Rey has self-published several books.

Several years ago while visiting the USS LST 325, a U.S. Naval tank landing ship in Chester, Ill., Rey struck up a conversation with an Army recruiter who had asked if she had ever been on an Honor Flight.

Rey, 77, who will be accompanied by guardian Amy Christison, said the group Tuesday is scheduled to drive by the Military Women's Memorial at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.

She sees the Honor Flight as a way to pay tribute.

"I'll be thinking of my brother and my cousin and a lot of the women (I served with)," Rey said. "We lost touch over the years. But we had a lot of fun together."

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Land of Lincoln Honor Flight soars again with trip to Washington, D.C.