Two St. Andrews Village residents joined a long line of Maine  military veterans honored for their combat service. In April, Dan Jameson, 92, and Leonard Belanger, 96, traveled to Washington, D.C. as part of Maine Honor Flight, a non-profit organization created in 2014. It transports a group of the state’s World War II, Korean and Vietnam war veterans to remember and reflect on their service by visiting war memorials during a weekend Washington, D.C. visit.

Jameson and Belanger joined about 48 other Maine veterans and about 48 guests on the April 26-28 tour. It included visiting a local military base and the World War II, Korean, Vietnam war and Iwo Jima memorials and Arlington National Cemetery.

Jameson, a Melrose, Massachusetts native, served in the Korean War for 13 months. Belanger served in the U.S. Air Force. He was stationed in England and France during World War II. Both men were in high school during World War II. At 19, Belanger was three months shy of graduating from Cony High School in 1942. He wanted to join the Marines like his brother, but the recruiter had other ideas.

“He told me to come back when I finished school,” Belanger said. “I came back and joined the Air Force because I wanted to learn about airplanes and electricity, so that’s what I did.” And why were high school seniors like Belanger and Jameson so anxious to enlist for combat in a massive global conflict? “Like everybody else. Everyone was joining, that’s my reason,” Belanger said.

Jameson was also a few months short of his high school graduation when he first volunteered, but his entry was different.

“Three of us decided to skip our last semester and enlist. They took my friends, but I flunked my physical with a perforated ear drum. So I went to college at Boston University and joined the ROTC,” he said.

Jameson began college as a member of the Class of 1948, but as a double major, business administration and military science, he graduated early. “I began in the Class of 1948, and graduated as a member of the Class of 1947.” Then he married and began working at Goodyear Tire Co. in Akron, Ohio. Jameson was called to military service in 1948. The Soviet Union began a blockade of West Berlin which resulted in Jameson’s Army Reserve Unit being called into action.

“In the Army's infinite wisdom, they thought those who spent the war (World War II) in college, it was time for them to serve. So I spent 13 months in the Far East. First in Japan, then on a beach in Wonsan, North Korea and after China entered the war, we traveled north to Pyongyang, North Korea and traveled as far as Hungnam. We returned to Ponsan on s ship and started all over again,” he said. 

Seven decades after both men volunteered for service, they were honored for their heroism by visiting Washington, D.C. as part of Maine Honor Flight. Local American Legion Post Cmdr. Dave Patch informed both men of their selection. Jameson immediately accepted, but Belanger needed persuading. “My daughter didn’t think it was for me, but Dave spoke to me for about five minutes. He gave me some information I needed and changed my mind.”

Both described the tour as an amazing time. At Arlington National Cemetery, they recounted a changing of the guard ceremony. “The guard parades back and forth at a special pace and pauses, and no one says anything. And on the tomb it reads here lies an honored American soldier in glory known only to God,” he said. During the ceremony witnessed by Jameson and Belanger, a family laid a wreath. “A mother, father and two sons. It must have been a family who lost someone in combat,” Belanger said. 

Both vets also appreciated the solemn burial ground for other U.S. military veterans at the national cemetery. Belanger has seen scenes of Arlington on television, but witnessing it was a whole different experience. “Oh, boy! Nothing like being there. It was quite just like you expect it to be,” he said. “It was an eye-opening experience. What’s the word I want to describe it, I guess it is magnificent.”

Jameson enjoyed the entire weekend. He praised organizers for planning an “amazing” tribute, but there was one glitch. “They spelled my name wrong in the program. Other than that everything was perfect," he said.