FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A group of military veterans took to the sky for the first time in several years.
Thanks to the Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation, 90-year-old Rev. Art Stejkal, 93-year old Dick Wells, 85-year-old Ralph Dirksen and 79-year-old Doria Tjong were able to take off from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport Friday morning.
Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation is a nonprofit organization created in 2011 to honor living U.S. military vets residing in long-term care facilities.
The group, who always dreamed of flying in the sky again, boarded a 1942 Boeing Stearman — the same plane that was used to train military aviators in the 1940s.
Each participant took a heart-pounding 20-minute flight more than 1,000 feet in the air, soaring over the heads of neighbor’s and friends.
Wells enlisted in the Army back in 1943. He was trained as a bombardier, but he didn’t get the chance to fly during the war.
“We were all crewed up and ready to go overseas, and the war ended, so I didn’t get overseas at all,” Wells said.
Decades later, he finally got the chance.
“It was something I’ll not forget,” said Wells. “I just can’t express how wonderful it was.”
Dirksen, an Army private, is a veteran of the Korean War.
“It’s fun to be able to see the area — I’m somewhat familiar with the area — to see it from a different perspective and to get out over the ocean, and it looks different from even standing on the shore, so I had a wonderful time,” Dirksen said.
Tjong, the only woman on Friday’s flight, was a little girl in Germany during World War II. She said seeing squadrons of planes flying overhead and even watching bombing runs piqued her curiosity about flying.
“As a little kid, I always dreamt of flying someday. Yeah, I flew, but I never learned how to fly, but even though that dream didn’t fulfill itself, I have the opportunity for closure to that wish,” Tjong said. “Today, I got the chance — in my old age — to go out up in the air in a small plane, open cockpit and it was great. I love it.”
To date, the foundation has provided more than 3,000 dream flights to veterans nationwide
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