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Salem WW II vet to take Honor Flight to Washington

U.S. Navy WW II veteran Robert Hannay

SALEM — As a sailor, he saw action on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and after the Nazis were crushed, he faced more danger in the south Pacific, specifically Okinawa and vicious, ongoing Japanese Kamikaze attacks.

On June 24, Robert Hannay of Salem, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy 48 days after turning 17, will be a member of an Honor Flight Cleveland trip to Washington, D.C.

The Honor Flight Cleveland one-day trips pay tribute to U.S. veterans who served the country by providing them a safe and memorable all-expense-paid visit to Washington to visit the memorials honoring their service.

Hanna received his French Legion of Honor medal last summer for time he spent in France, some of it stuck on the Normandy beach and exposed to heavy enemy shelling.

His daughter, Sharon Baker of Salem, said her father talked about the honor flights a couple of years ago.

Hanna will turn 91 on July 14 and after talking about it off and on, his other daughter, Shirley Bodirnea, who lives outside Atlanta, Ga., filled out an application for an Honor Flight Cleveland trip.

Three weeks later, Baker said, they were advised he was good to go and Bodirnea will accompany him.

They will arrive at 4 a.m. Saturday in Cleveland and return by 11 p.m.

The inaugural Honor Flight Cleveland flew from Cleveland Hopkins in May of 2007 when 25 World War II veterans, at no cost to them, participated in the venture.

The cost of that trip, and all subsequent trips, have been covered entirely by private donations.

Every April or May through October or November, veterans have boarded planes for their all-expense paid trip of a lifetime and more than 3,200 veterans, most from WWII, have made the trips since 2007.

“It sounds like it’s really cool,” Baker said, “he wanted to, we were reluctant but at almost 91 we said ‘OK, dad.’ He’s excited to go. He still gets around good, still able to do a lot.”

Baker said her father likes attending the D-Day Conneaut (http://www.ddayohio.us/) event, started in 1999 and which, event organizers say, “is fast becoming America’s premier living history event by being the most realistic and educational annual reenactment of D-Day, June 6, 1944.”

Baker said the Honor Flight Cleveland flights are available to all veterans but they want WWII veterans as a priority, and the website said they also prioritize terminally ill veterans who served at any time.

Honor Flight Cleveland says it is not affiliated with HonorFlights.com or HonorFlight.com, which charge veterans a fee to participate.

It said, “Honor Flight Cleveland never charges a vet.”

Baker said she knows her father “is looking forward to it” and she also looks forward to talk with him and see the photos when he returns.

Hannay’s wife, Mildred, passed away last October.

lshields@salemnews.net

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