Petaluma woman, grandfather take flight to honor veterans

Donald Hugh Cameron has taken some unforgettable flights over the course of his life, and the 91-year-old Air Force veteran is quick to recall tales of his stint as nose gunner on a B-24 Liberator aircraft, when he precariously careened though the skies behind the barrel of a machine gun during World War II.

Though it wasn’t quite as raw as his time perched in the front of the “The Flying Coffin” with a 10-man crew, Cameron’s recent airborne journey on a Utah Honor Flight with his granddaughter, Petaluma educator Michelle Miller, may have been just as memorable. The pair took flight earlier this month as part of a nationwide program that transports veterans on a free trip to Washington, D.C. to see war memorials as a way to commemorate their service.

“At times it was pretty much overwhelming and it was very emotional,” Cameron, a former Petaluma resident said. “It was fantastic. The turnout of people every place we went and the way they greeted us and so forth – it was unbelievable.”

Miller and Cameron were among the 100 veterans and chaperons aboard the Sept. 13 flight that took them from Salt Lake City to Washington, D.C., with a send off from the Adjutant General of the Utah National Guard and the Utah Pipe Band. The group was received with a standing ovation from bystanders in both airports and showered with congratulatory messages throughout the trip, Miller said.

As part of the whirlwind tour around the nation’s capital, the group was taken to the World War II Memorial, where Cameron and others who served in the war were awarded with victory medals for their service, Miller said.

For Cameron, who was drafted at 18 and served from 1943 to 1946, seeing the memorial for the first time and receiving recognition was a unique experience.

“It was a great experience and it did give you a sense of closure and completion,” said Cameron, who now lives in Utah. “You went around the circle, you might say. You participated and you lived the aftereffects and you went back there and saw the monuments and everything, and for a period of time, you relived the past with some of the participants who were also involved.”

For Miller, a second-grade teacher at Sonoma Valley Elementary School, the trip served as a way to pay homage to Cameron. She said she views him as a father figure, and the three-day venture was a platform for her to honor both his service to the country and his role in her own life.

“This is better than anything else I’ve done, and it was such an amazing thing to get to do with him,” she said. “Because I don’t know my dad, it was important that I honor him. It was important for me to be the one to honor him for being my father.”

The tour of monuments, including the Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, Navy and Iwo Jima and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorials, as well as experiencing the changing of the guard at the Arlington National Cemetery and a flag ceremony at Fort McHenry instilled a heightened sense of pride in Miller.

The 47-year-old teacher, who raised the funds to cover her travel expenses through a GoFundMe campaign that received outpouring of support from across the country, said she’s now working with school staff to bring a Veterans Day celebration to her academic community.

“I feel so proud to be American and patriotic and happy with my life and I feel so blessed,” she said.

The Utah chapter of the nation-wide Honor Flight network was established in 2013, and since its inception, the nonprofit has transported nearly 1,000 veterans to Washington, D.C., according to Chairman Mike Turner.

“Our mission is to get them there safely and give them the time to reflect,” he said. “Every veteran has something different that takes place on these trips, whether it’s seeing the memorial and remembering someone they lost or meeting people from all over the world … we just have a thousand different stories, but more than anything else, it gives these guys an opportunity to heal in whatever way works for them.”

Now that she’s back on the ground from her life-changing flight, Miller said she hopes to encourage others to celebrate those who have served.

“Everyone should thank a veteran and stop and realize the importance of these men and women and what they’ve done,” she said.

(Contact Hannah Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @hannahbeausang.)