Page 2 - Aerotech News and Review – March 2024

Honor Flights vet advocate honored at 90
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Photo by Dennis Anderson
Navy and Coast G uard veteran Fred Barthe ( left) chats with another Korea-V ietnam vet, Anthony Kitson, who celebrated his 90th birthday on H onor Flight that Barthe recruited him to attend.
By Dennis Anderson
Special to Aerotech News
LAN CAST ER, Cali f . 􏰀 Veterans from across north Los Angeles and Kern counties gathered to honor a Korean War combat air crewman who has been one of the steadfast proponents of flying older veterans to Washington, D.C., to honor them.
Fred 􏰁arthe turned 90 recently, which coincidentally is 􏰂ust about the age reached by many of the surviving veterans of what has often been dubbed America’s “Forgotten War.”
Veterans in the communities of the Antelope Valley wanted to ensure they did not forget 􏰁arthe’s big “Nine􏰃Oh” birthday, so they lit up a cake in a celebration hosted at one of the Antelope Valley’s familiar veteran gathering spots, the pub at Bravery Brewing.
Outside of military history enthusiasts it may be hard for succeeding gen- erations to either know, or remember, that the Korean War —waged from 1950 until the 􏰄orean War Armistice in 1953 􏰀 erupted 􏰂ust five years after the end of World War II. About 30,000 Americans were killed repelling North Korean and Chinese communist forces.
Seventy years after that not-quite forgotten war, Barthe is a relentless advocate for enrolling veterans of World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars for a program called Honor Flight Kern County.
Part of the national Honor Flight non􏰃profit program, volunteers charter passenger jets to carry older military veterans for an all-expense paid trip to the military memorials in Washington, D.C., and to visit Arlington National Cemetery and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
“I think it was one of the greatest trips of my life,” said Anthony Kitson, who turned 90 last year, and who served during the 􏰄orean and Vietnam war eras.
“It was such an honor, and a privilege to be in such honorable company,” Kitson said.
Michael Bertell, a Vietnam War combat veteran, is another testimonial to the journey that Barthe promotes as a volunteer scout for Honor Flight Kern County.
“It is unbelievable how well treated you are,” said Bertell, a draftee who remembered getting nothing in the way of a “Welcome Home” when he first returned from Vietnam in the early 1970s.
Since the early years after 9􏰅11, chapters of the national non􏰃profit have been bringing thousands of veterans, starting with the oldest World War II veterans, on the pilgrimage to the nation’s capital. Once there, the groups make a lightning round of visits to the Vietnam and Korean war memorials, and the Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force Memorials, and to see the Army’s “Old Guard” detail at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
“It is a life-changing experience,” said Barthe, who recruits prospective older veterans for placement in the Honor Flight Kern County program based out of 􏰁akersfield. Veterans from 􏰄ern and Los Angeles counties are eligible.
Of his birthday, he said, “It’s nice to be here. It is nice to be anywhere.”
Barthe, one of life’s optimists, can recall his own brush with death, and it wasn’t a communist human wave assault, it was a carrier deck landing.
􏰁arthe was a Navy man 􏰂ust out of his teens who wanted to fly. Trained in radio and electronics, he was told a fast way to get in the air was to volunteer as electronics systems crew aboard a carrier-based, propeller driven beast called the Skyraider.
The Skyraider could bomb, strafe, fire rockets and do search and rescue.
Often, with veterans, it is the hat that can tell you about the warrior and the war. In Barthe’s case, his Korean War veteran ball cap has a distinctive, winged badge that signifies “combat air crew.”
On a day of choppy seas and daunting skies in 1953, 􏰁arthe’s aircraft was the last plane to return to the carrier, so low on fuel another go-around would have plunged their aircraft into the Taiwan Strait.
The heaving carrier deck of the USS Y ork town was home base and also the last barrier between Barthe’s crew of three and a watery grave. They
See HONOR, Page 10
2
Aerotech News and Review
March 1, 2024
AV cake
Photo by Dennis Anderson
V ietnam Memorial volunteer Stacia Nemeth sets out 90th birthday for Korean W ar veteran Fred Barthe.
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