August 2011

"When they flew over us at Guadalcanal during World War II," said Wes Hardin pointing to a sleek Japanese Kawanishi N1K2-Ja Shiden fighter, "they made a racket, sounding like an old-fashioned washing machine." The 92-year-old veteran and I were at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, VA, seven hours after meeting at the airport as part of Honor Flight, an organization dedicated to bringing every living WWII veteran to Washington, D.C. Only now did the 60-year-old memories start coming out in waves.