Nonprofit honors 100-year-old WWII veteran

Feb. 17—It started when Kathy Davidson read a newspaper article about a local nonprofit and culminated the day before her father-in-law Carl Davidson turned 101.

On the eve of his birthday, Carl embarked on a journey that took him into the wild, blue yonder.

Kathy reached out to Grounded No More Inc. CEO Tony Anger and with his help, Carl on Jan. 21 caught a free half-hour Honor Flight at Falcon Field in a World War II trainer aircraft that he even piloted for few minutes.

"Oh, I had a good time," Carl said. "It's a nice flight and the terrain has changed so since I flew over during World War II."

The Salem, Illinois, native joined the Army Air Corps in September 1942. He tested into a commission as a second lieutenant and spent just over three years in the service before he left as a captain in December 1945.

Carl finished training and got assigned as a training instructor to Luke Army Airfield — now Luke Air Force Base — preparing hundreds of young men for aerial combat in a variety of single-engine fighter planes like a combat glider nicknamed "The Flying Coffin" as well as a B-24 Liberator bomber.

After leaving the service, Carl stayed in Phoenix "for the weather" and started his own paint business that is now owned by his son, Terry Davidson.

Despite the chilly conditions the day of his flight, Carl was all smiles from tarmac to taxi to takeoff and back and shared what a "tremendous job" Grounded No More has done a for him and other veterans.

"I am very appreciative of this organization for putting this all together and producing this for the many servicemen that deserve it more than I do," Carl said.

With his wife, four children, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren in attendance, as well as the Desert Young Marines from Glendale, Carl said he was taken aback by the fanfare surrounding him.

"This is a surprise and more than I could comprehend," Carl said.

Young Marines — a youth program that mentors boys and girls from ages 8 to 18 through military discipline and education — provided a color guard ensemble for Carl that day.

Mary Lou Davidson, Carl's wife of 62 years, anxiously watched his flight and was saying, "that's enough."

But she was happy to see her husband enjoy himself again in the skies.

"I think it's great for him to have this, to be able to see other fliers and probably thought he was never really going to fly again, after all, look how old he is," Mary Lou said.

"He was really surprised and really happy to have this," she added. "But he didn't think it needed to be such a fuss."

Mary Lou said has always put others before himself, like when his younger brother passed away last June and he mustered the strength to fly to Illinois twice in one week — once to see him and again for the funeral.

"You'll never find another one like him. One in a million," Mary Lou said. "And he's very thoughtful for everybody."

Carl's son Terry Davidson said he knew his dad would get excited before they told him because of how much flying means to him.

"I knew dad would be excited, and he was when we called him and talked to him," he said. "And it's a real honor for him to be back in the air again and even get the chance to fly the plane a little bit."

Kathy said she originally wanted to sign Carl up to take part in the Honor Flight Network program that flies veterans back to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials dedicated to their service, but "it never worked out."

"So, when I saw this, and I knew it was local, and it was something that was just, you know, half an hour flight, I contacted Tony Anger and I asked about it and then we asked Carl, if he would be interested and he was very interested," Kathy said.

Kathy said she held back tears watching everything unfold that day, especially because she wanted to do something like this for her own father, an Air Force veteran, who passed away before she could do it.

Above all, Kathy said she's most impressed with Carl's strength at and staying as ambulatory at his age.

"At 101, I don't know if I'd feel comfortable doing this, and he was ready to go," Kathy said.

The camaraderie in the veteran community that makes something like this possible also impressed Kathy but feels more should be done for veterans.

"It's scary that there are veterans on the streets and people who really need help and I think that we all need to try to do more for them," Kathy said. "I mean, this is wonderful but we have a good family and he has a good life but a lot of the veterans don't and they fought for you and me too."

Grounded No More, Inc. CEO Tony Anger has done his best and taken more than 500 veterans on a free flight in his Fairchild PT-26 propeller plane named "Amazing Grace."

"When I hear World War II, they get moved right to the front of the line," Anger said. "They get a day all by themselves."

Of the more than 20 WWII veterans Anger has taken up, he said this sits up near the top with Carl's backstory, his physical capability at his age and his flight skills.

On the tarmac, Carl needed little help getting into and out of the plane and in the air, Anger said Carl obviously had not forgotten his flying skills.

He said Carl flew "flawlessly" with coordinated turns and the proper altitude and that he let the flight last longer than the usual 30 minutes because "we were having so much fun that I didn't want to come back," Anger said, adding:

"If I didn't know any better, I would have said 'yeah, you can go fly it yourself,' because he did that good."

For more information about, or donate to, Grounded No More Inc., visit: groundednomoreveteranflightlift.com.

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