Honor Flight takes veterans on trip to D.C.

By KARInA KOVAC kkovac@liherald.com

In 1969, Oceanside resident William Taylor, then 20, received a draft letter to go to Vietnam. He left college in his second year and decided to accelerate his draft to show the government that he wasn’t resisting the orders. He did clerical work in service and arrived home safely after 13 and a half months.

This past Saturday, Taylor and 46 other veterans were taken on a flight to Washington, D.C., by Honor Flight Long Island to visit the war memorials.

According to Bill Jones, HFLI president, West Point 1972 graduate and Army veteran, “This special flight includes 38 Vietnam War veterans who will receive long overdue recognition and thanks for their service. They’ll be accompanied on this flight by two World War II veterans and seven Korean War veterans. What this flight really represents is a ‘big hug’ to all our veterans from Honor Flight, their families and supporters, who make such flights possible.”

Taylor, now 73, started his service by reporting for duty at the Knights of Columbus in Valley Stream. From there he was shipped off to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and moved for basic training to Fort Jackson in South Carolina. There he was trained in clerical work and learned how to type 20 words a minute with no previous typing experience.

He started his journey to Vietnam after reporting to Fort Lewis in Washington at the end of January 1970. He flew to Alaska, then Japan, then to Vietnam on a 24-hour flight. On Jan. 31, 1970, he landed and for the first time he saw the Vietnamese in straw hats and the beautiful scenery.

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