Honor Flight Chicago Taking World War II Vets To Washington D.C. To See Memorial
(CBS) -- As the nation prepares for the Independence Day holiday, Honor Flight Chicago will be taking another group of World War II veterans to Washington, D.C. Tuesday to see the memorial that honors them.
One of the World War II veterans going to Washington is 88-year-old James Hayden of Crystal Lake.
He says it's been decades since he was in Washington and he's never seen the World War II memorial.
Seeing it, he says, will be a little emotional. Friends he lost in the war will be on his mind.
"I had several who actually went in before they were 18 years old because a lot of people were doing that... And a lot of my high school friends were killed in the war."
Hayden had just joined the Navy in 1945 and he was still stateside, in New York City, that summer when V-J Day came.
"Times Square was just a madhouse of people. It was so tight with the people in Times Square that you could pick up your feet and you could move along with the crowd."
Going with Hayden, he says: his son - and Hayden says it should be an education for him.
"Most of these people don't think about World War II. It's something in the past that happened. It's like World War I - I don't think about (it) too much either.
"But it's going to make me feel good that he's going to be able to see some of these old vets. I'm sure he's going to have a very good time."