Updated 10/10/2012 10:33 AM
WWII vets board Austin’s second ‘Honor Flight’
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Boarding pass, coffee, breakfast and family--Marvin Kanter is getting ready for his second trip to the nation's capitol.
Fifty World War II veterans were honored at the Hilton Austin Airport Hotel Tuesday before boarding a flight to Washington, D.C.
Honor Flight Austin hosted the trip to the National World War II memorial.
"I always wanted to go back and here's a chance with a whole group of veterans," Kanter said. "We all understand what happened, we can talk about it, and we can say goodbye to our buddies when we get to the wall."
It's been almost seven decades since Kanter toured the Pacific, Atlantic and Okinawa, Japan. Even though he spent two years at sea, he knows those skills are a bit outdated.
"If I was to go aboard a ship, I probably wouldn't recognize a thing," he said.
Some of this generation's military officials came to honor the veterans from "The Greatest Generation," or the children of the Great Depression who lived through World War II.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo addressed the group on behalf of Mayor Lee Leffingwell. The mayor couldn't be at the ceremony, but he joined the vets for the flight.
"To think that I'm standing here today as an immigrant, right here in this spot, as a police chief would've never happened without the sacrifices and the excellence of the greatest generation," the chief said.
This was Honor Flight Austin's second trip, the first was back in June.
Since 2005, the national organization, Honor Flight Network, has flown 85,000 World War II veterans to see the memorial.