Local volunteers helping to give veterans true lift

Natalie Grove

Mike Winterboer and George Dominy go about it a little differently, but they have a common purpose: to help provide free airplane rides to veterans, for whom the experience is often one of healing old scars.

They volunteer with separate organizations, Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundations and Honor Flights respectively, to provide trips to elderly ex-soldiers.

“It’s all about the veterans,” said George Dominy, a former Sweet Home police sergeant, who served as a guardian on an Honor Flight on the weekend of Oct. 16.

Honor Flights provides free airplane rides to and from Washington D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor. If a veteran doesn’t have a family member to escort him or her, guardians volunteer their time and pay their own way to accompany the veteran.

“A trip back to the World War II memorial for a lot of the guys is a healing process.”

On that particular weekend, Dominy served as a guardian to Richard Scobles, who was a Navy fighter pilot for 25 years.

Arlington especially, Dominy said, was “very moving. You could see it in their eyes, their faces. It was very solemn, surreal and real to them. It really to them is very emotional, it’s a healing process to them.”

He said his job is to make sure the veterans are comfortable, assist them in getting them off the bus, take pictures for them, keep them on their medications, eating right, then getting them back on the plane and home to their relatives.

After visiting the memorials each veteran received an American flag that had flown over the Capitol. Upon starting their trip back home, Dominy noticed many of the veterans began to talk about their experiences in the military.

“I think it helps a lot that I’m a veteran too – or if the guardians are veterans. They feel comfortable because they can relate,” said Dominy, who served in the Marine Corps.

“They’re just looking for someone to sit and talk to, who they can relate to, who understands the experiences.”

At their return to Portland International Airport, Dominy’s group of veterans was greeted by a clapping honor guard of hundreds of people composed of law enforcement, fire, military, patriot fighters, and citizens – stretching from the arrival gate of the airport all the way to the buses there to take them away.

“There were some people who were pretty emotional, or maybe this was the first time they opened up and talked about this. All in all, I think the weekend is just a really big healing process for them.”

Winterboer’s activity is a little different, though the purpose is similar: He pilots veterans on shorter trips through the Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation. The organization seeks to use the plane rides as a means to give back to those who have served in America’s armed forces.

Winterboer, 51, lives between Sweet Home and Lebanon, and whose “day job” is flying for American Airlines. He served as a guardian on an Honor Flight several years ago for two men, one who had served in the Navy, one in the Army.

“They’re telling their story and I’m just trying to imagine what it was like for these 18-, 19-, 20-year-old men,” Winterboer said, “but they talk about their experiences just like a trip to Seven-Eleven.”

One of his charges, Buck Buckmaster, told a story about his first mission as a B-24 commander in World War II was when he was sent to bomb oil fields in Romania:

“The airplane got shot down, we were spinning, and it was on fire, and we’re all trying to jump out. There’s a buddy of mine in the hatch and he’s struggling to get a strap on, and we’re about a thousand feet above the ground and had to get out, so I just kicked him out.

He was mad at me for years for that.”

Started in 2011 by Oregonian Darryl Fisher, the non-profit Ageless Aviation Dreams is founded on the simple idea of giving free airplane rides to veterans and senior citizens who have contributed to society.

“It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal – a 15 minute ride in a biplane, but it’s a huge deal,” Winterboer said.

His interest was piqued after seeing the organization’s 1942 Boeing Stearman biplane at a show in Hillsboro. The biplane was built to serve as a primary trainer, one of the first airplanes beginner pilot trainees would see in the late 30’s and 40’s in World War II.

“It has a tremendous history in the navy and American aviation history in general,” Winterboer said. The plane has a tail wheel in the back of the plane, which is something he had experience flying.

“I’ve flown crop-dusters, tailwheelers, and one thing led to another. with my wife and I volunteering.”

Since March, Winterboer has flown about 150 flights. The foundation has two other planes – thus far in 2014 they have visited 43 cities and given over 400 flights. By the end of the year they hope to have given closer to 500 flights.

While giving flights in Ohio, a man working at the airport asked Winterboer about a friend who had been on two tours in Iraq and earned two Purple Hearts.

“He asked me, ‘What would I have to donate to get him a ride?’ I looked at him and said, ‘Absolutely nothing.’ That’s what I love about the foundation.”

While corporate sponsors pay for the maintenance and insurance on the planes, the pilots are paid in satisfaction.

“Guys will come out, wheelchair-bound, had a stroke. But they are just determined to get in that airplane – it’s inspiring. They’ll be all bent over, and by the time you get the airplane, they’re standing straight up. They summon strength they haven’t had in years,” Winterboer said.

He has given rides to Sweet Home veterans Jay Robeck and Jim Moffat, but has also traveled to Albany, Salem, Roseburg, and up to Olympia and Sequim in Washington.

“The whole World War II generation has a lot of tough guys. We’ve given a lot of rides to soldiers, WACS, WAVES. Personally, I like giving something back to the Vietnam-era guys. I feel like our country did them a disservice by the way we treated them.

“I think we’ve learned as a society, if you’ve got a problem with the guys over there, it’s the leadership that sent them there. Take it out on them, not on the guys just trying to do their jobs.

“It’s really nice to acknowledge their service, pay them some respect, and I just love being able to do that.”

In Sequim, Wash., Winterboer had the unique experience of seeing an entire community work together to get one of their veterans into his Stearman plane.

Veteran Lloyd Brown, 74, had lost the use of one of his legs in a construction accident in 2002, but wanted to go up in a plane. Though another organization that offered paid flights had refused to try to get Brown into a plane, when Winterboer and his wife Diane – who schedules the flights – came to town, the community fire department got involved and decided to help them try it.

“They (the Fire Department) didn’t even hesitate to say they could try to do it – it was really cool to see,” Winterboer said.

The fire department rigged up a gin ladder, hoisting Brown up in the air, then pushing the plane underneath him. The operation was a success on both ends of the flight. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the place,” Winterboer said. (To read more about Lloyd Brown’s flight, Google the Sequim Gazette’s article “One man’s flight, a community effort.”)

“It’s easy to get discouraged about how things are headed in our country, and it doesn’t seem to be headed in a good direction, Winterboer said. “But when you get out, there’s a lot of good people and good things going on. It’s been a blessing personally to see.”

As much as Winterboer enjoys giving the flights, the veterans seem to enjoy them even more – giving them a springboard for conversations with their families and loved ones about their experiences.

“Same thing with these guys on the Honor Flight, I think things like a dream flight, or honor flight, create a feeling where it’s OK to share.

“A lot of them feel like no one cares, or nobody wants to hear about it, or want to forget about it and get on with their life. But a lot of us care and want to know, if they want to talk about it.”

Not only is the flight a good conversation-starter, it’s also fun.

If a veteran had experience flying while in the service, or even after the service, Winterboer will let them take the controls to fly the plane during the flight.

“Some of them haven’t flown in 70 years, so it take a couple turns and they’re right back in the groove.

There’s a mirror up on the wing where we can see each other, and I can just see a little grin, and the more they fly the bigger the grin gets.”

Recently Winterboer took a pilot from Albany who was the top of his class in World War II. Though he had wanted to be a fighter pilot, his whole class ended flying bombers (which he still wasn’t happy about, according to Winterboer).

“He hadn’t flown for 70-some years when I took him up. After we landed, he said, ‘Well Mike, I want to talk to you about that landing. Think you came in a little hot there.’”

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