By G.B. POINDEXTER Broken Arrow Ledger Managing Editor on Apr 19, 2013, at 1:54 AM Updated on 4/19/13 at 5:48 AM
Grady McFadden shows his father, World War II veteran B.T. McFadden (in wheelchair), a piece of artwork on the National World War II Memorial during the Oklahoma Honor Flight trip Wednesday. JEFF LAUTENBERGER/for the Tulsa World
Editor's Note: Broken Arrow Ledger Managing Editor G.B. Poindexter accompanied Wednesday's Honor Flights trip to Washington, D.C., as a pool reporter for the Oklahoma Press Association. The return trip to Tulsa was delayed Wednesday night by weather.
WASHINGTON - For B.T. McFadden and his son, Grady McFadden, Wednesday began like any other day, with one major exception.
About 7 a.m., both men boarded a chartered aircraft bound for Washington, D.C.
The father and son were at Tulsa International Airport as part of an Oklahoma Honor Flights trip for more than 80 veterans who either participated in World War II or the Korean War.
B.T. McFadden, 91, was a Marine in the South Pacific.
"I am a country boy from Arkansas, and in World War II, I was a tanker and an amphib driver from 1942 to 1946," he said.
Wednesday's flight was the first of four scheduled this year from the Sooner State.
A trip leaves from Tulsa in September, and two others from Oklahoma City are scheduled.
"Well, I tell you," McFadden said in a voice one would expect from a person who has lived nearly a century, "I was a sergeant three times, a corporal twice, and I sure enjoyed my time."
That enjoyment began in boot camp.
"Oh, we were about through with boot, and this fella told me he didn't much like me," McFadden said. "Next thing I know, there was a ring around both of us."
The ring was four ropes strung along the ground, and the "fella" was the first of many who would take on a rough-and-tough McFadden, who promptly introduced the man to Mother Earth.
"He came at me expecting me to sock him with my right hand, but I sidestepped and slugged him with a left. I'm a southpaw," McFadden said, chuckling.
Many of the men and women on Wednesday's trip shared stories from their times in war. Some of the recounted memories were happy, and some were sad.
"Many of these men and women who attend the Honor Flights have a range of thoughts and emotions," said state Rep. Eric Proctor, R-Tulsa. "Our hope with the Honor Flights is that the trip provides a time for healing and an opportunity to deliver a thank you, 70 years in the making.
"We thank all the veterans for their service."
Proctor, who was on his eighth trip with the group since becoming involved in 2010, was one of many in the organization who helped coordinate a whirlwind tour of selected sites in the District of Columbia.
Veterans and their Honor Flight "guardians" - volunteers who pay their own way and care for the needs of the veterans - enjoyed memorial sites for WWII, Korea and the Vietnam War.
The one-day tour also stopped at Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.
"This is fantastic," said McFadden, who saw combat as a tanker.
But what he recalls most vividly is retrieving the dead from beachheads.
"When I drove the amphibs (amphibious troop transport vehicles) to the beachheads, the Navy would stop shelling right before we landed," he said.
"After the troops got out, well, we had to take the dead back to the ships. I never will forget that."
What many know and have known about McFadden since his days in the Marine Corps is that he was, indeed, a fighter but that he was also a kind-hearted, gentle and loving man.
"I was married for 61 years," he said. "Although I was the seventh son with 14 brothers and sisters, me and Martha only had Grady."
The couple's only son - whose name was his mother's maiden name - worked for the Tulsa Police Department for 29 years before he retired and then became a campus police officer at Rogers State University, where he has worked for 11 years.
"This whole thing is just wonderful," B.T. McFadden said of the Honor Flights trip. "Just wonderful. I sure am thankful for it."
About Honor Flights
Honor Flights is a national organization operating in 37 states throughout the United States dedicated to honoring as many military veterans as the nonprofit program can support.
For information on Oklahoma Honor flights, call state Rep. Eric Proctor at 918-407-9403 or go online to
tulsaworld.com/honorflights
Original Print Headline: Veterans taken on journey of a lifetime
