TOPEKA (KSNT) – Nevada-based charity Dream Flights stopped by the Phillip Billard Airport to give eight veterans a chance to fly in a World War Two era Boeing Stearman Biplane.
Dream Flights is a charity that travels around the country giving free flights to senior veterans from nursing homes and care facilities to thank them for their service. On Wednesday, 100 year old Navy veteran Slyvester Lira and seven others from Brookside Assisted Living Facility in Overbrook got to relive their days in the uniform.
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“It was a nice ride you get to see everything from up there to down there,” Lira said. “I got to see a lot of action and I had a good gun crew. I’m one of the lucky ones that got to come home.”
Following the flights, veterans get a handshake, a ballcap, a salute and a chance to sign the historic plane’s tail.
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“You can see their face absolutely lights up,” said Dream Flight Pilot Christopher Stratton. “It brings back a lot of memories for some of them, and it reminds them of their time whether they served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard. It just reminds them of their time in the military, and it becomes a very special thing to them, and to us too.”
Dream Flights relies on donations and volunteers to keep offering these free flights nationwide.
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