Rich Highfill took the trip of his life last week.
A veteran of World War II, Highfill was one of dozens of veterans from across eastern Kansas who traveled to Washington, D.C., last week on a whirl-wind tour of memorials and monuments dedicated to those who've served.
The one-day trip was sponsored by the Honor Flight Network, a not-for-profit organization based in Springfield, Ohio. The group was formed in 2005 and has since spread nationally, according to information from its website, www.honorflight.org.
The Honor Flight Network was “created solely to honor America’s veterans for all their sacrifices,” according to the website introduction. “We fly our heroes to Washington, DC to visit and reflect at their memorials.”
Highfill, 83, served as a gunner with the 664th Field Artillery during World War II. He was the one who fired the big guns.
He was 17 years old and had just completed his sophomore year of high school when he signed up in 1942. He wanted to join the Army, he said, because he didn't want to get drafted into the Navy like his brother had. Highfill didn't like the water, so he convinced his parents to sign his induction papers so he could stay on dry land.
He served for 3-1/2 years and was discharged in 1945. His unit never got out of the country and never saw any action. But they were close once, he said.
“We got the word to pack up and go to Oregon to get on a ship there,” he said. “When we got there, they changed our orders and we went back to where we came from.”
After he was discharged, Highfill came back to his hometown of Hepler. He finished high school and attended two years at Pittsburg State, then called the Kansas State Teacher's College. During that time, he'd also got married and started a family.
“I told my wife I was going to quit school and get me a job, cause my little baby was getting hungry,” he said with a laugh.
He started as an electrical planner at Boeing Aircraft in Wichita, then moved to the Sperry-Rand Engineering Laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, after he was laid off from Boeing. They were only in Utah about two years and his wife didn't like it.
So the Highfills came back and he went to work on the pipelines for Service Oil Company in Eldorado. When Service Oil sold that pipeline, he got a job with CITGO Petroleum as a crude oil buyer based in Odessa, Texas. He retired from CITGO in 1985 to Fayetteville, Ark., where his wife passed away.
He moved to Parsons at the urging of his sister. But he didn't like it there, so he moved to Girard, where he's lived ever since.
Highfill said he was contacted several weeks ago by staff at Southern Coffey County High School in Leroy about the trip. A group of senior students from the school was going to chaperone the veterans and they asked if he'd be interested in taking part.
“I said that I'd definitely be interested if it wasn't going to cost me too much,” Highfill said. “They said it wouldn't cost me a penny.”
On April 15, Highfill went up and stayed the night at the Wyatt Earp Motel at BETO Junction, north of Burlington. The next day, he was picked up and the group went to Kansas City International Airport at 3 a.m. for their morning flight to Baltimore, Md.
From Baltimore, the group boarded a bus for the trip around Washington, where they visited the Iwo Jima Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. They also saw the Vietnam and Korea memorials, the White House, the Smithsonian and Newseum museums and the National Stadium. The group also met retired Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, who took them out to dinner before their flight home that evening.
“It was a pretty full day,” Highfill said. “But it was a wonderful trip. A lot better than I expected.”
The group spent most of their time at the World War II Memorial. He returned home with photographs of himself standing next to the Kansas pillar at the memorial. He also brought home enough memories to last anyone a lifetime, he said.
“The World War II memorial was the best part of the trip,” he said. “It's a lot more beautiful than my pictures show.”
This was Highfill's first trip to Washington, but he'd like to go back next year with another Honor Flight Network group. While they were there, touring the monument to their service, people of all ages would walk up and talk to the veterans.
There's no one thing that sticks in Highfill's mind about the trip. It was just a wonderful day.
“I'll remember it all,” he said. “Everything was just great for me.
“It meant a whole lot to all of us. Everything. Especially the people down there, even the little kids, coming up to talk to us and thank us.”