Midwest City veteran parallels found in classic movie, 'White Christmas'

Oklahoma Honor Flights in Midwest City gives similar gangbuster salutes to World War II veterans in the Sooner state, treating them to gala dinners the evenings before they fly them on all-expenses-paid, one-day trips to the World War II Memorial in Washington.

“We followed an ROTC student into the ballroom, to a drum roll,” veteran Jack Tolle, 90, of Oklahoma City, said in a recent presentation at Wesley United Methodist Church of Oklahoma City. “And guests clapped and they clapped and they clapped for almost 20 minutes straight, and then stood while the U.S. National Anthem and other patriotic songs were played.”

Tolle, who served on a Navy aircraft carrier in the Pacific, choked up when he described the slide show that followed and featured a photo and service summary for each of about 100 veterans in attendance. “Some were in Guadalcanal,” he said, “remember that filth and fighting? There was a B-17 tail gunner who'd made 35 trips, and others who were in Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima.”