Veterans visit Washington, D.C.

    A group of veterans from southeast Iowa left for Washington, D.C., today to visit the National World War II Memorial. A public send-off for the veterans was held this morning at 7:30 in New London. After a short ceremony, the veterans traveled to the Moline Airport and then flew to the nation?s capital.

    According to the memorial?s website, its purpose is to honor the 16 million who served in the armed forces during the war, the more than 400,000 who died and the millions who supported the war effort from home.

    The 33 veterans who are going on the trip all served during World War II. The National World War II Memorial they will visit was built in 2004. The trip was organized by Pam Raymer of Muscatine, the niece of WWII veteran Jim Marshall of Muscatine. Marshall visited the memorial in 2008 and thought that other veterans should be given the opportunity to see it.

    Washington veteran Edward Hutchcroft is a member of the traveling party, and he is very excited to see the memorial. Hutchcroft said he read a book about the memorial called ?World War II Memorial: Jewel of the Mall,? referring to the memorial?s location in the National Mall. 

    ?From the pictures I?ve seen of it, I like the way it looks,? he said. ?It?s very impressive. There is something at the memorial about General Douglas MacArthur and  General George Marshall.?

    Hutchcroft said he talked to Marion Turnipseed about the memorial. Turnipseed visited the memorial and reported to Hutchcroft that it was well worth the trip.

    ?He said it was a wonderful trip and that they take care of everything,? said Hutchcroft. ?I?m really looking forward to it.? 

    Hutchcroft was not given an itinerary of his stay in Washington, but remarked that the group would probably visit other memorials in the city.

    Hutchcroft served in the Army in the 1255th Combat Engineers Battalion. He was trained as a demolition specialist to perform tasks such as neutralizing mines. He served in France and participated in the Battle of the Bulge.

    ?If we hadn?t won there, we wouldn?t have won the war,? said Hutchcroft. 

    He enrolled in the service at the age of 17 in 1943, just out of high school. He was enrolled for 2 ½ years.

For more, see our Sept. 15 print edition.