Gary Clabaugh worked in the nation’s capital for a couple of months in 1968 while he was an Army soldier.

Bob Leinbaugh, an Army veteran, parked his big rig not far away from the White House so he could take a look around.

Now those three are coming together with more than 100 other veterans, some of whom have never been in Washington, for a memorable trip — the 24th Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight. The Sept. 13 journey will take them from Fort Dodge to the capital for a tour of the nation’s war memorials

“I’m anxious to see what it is all about,” said Pittman, a Jefferson resident who served in the Navy and Naval Reserve for more than 40 years. “I know we’re going to enjoy it.”

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Army veteran Gary Clabaugh, right, of Fort Dodge, was joined by his family at the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight banquet Wednesday evening. From left are his great-granddaughter Kendall Rose Clabaugh, his daughter Sara Clabaugh, and his granddaughter Aubrey Kerwin. Four generations of the Clabaugh family were present as Gary Clabaugh prepared for the Sept. 13 Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C.

Pittman, Clabaugh and Leinbaugh were among the veterans, family members and friends who gathered at the Webster County Fairgrounds Wednesday evening for the banquet that traditionally precedes each Honor Flight. The banquet provides an opportunity for them to get acquainted and receive some instructions for the flight.

As of Wednesday evening, there are 118 veterans going on the flight.

The majority of them 107, are Vietnam veterans.

Also going on the flight are six veterans who served in peacetime between the Korean and Vietnam wars, three Korean War veterans and two World War II veterans.

Among all those veterans, Pittman probably had the longest military service. His remarkable career began during World War II and continued until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 in 1986.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Veterans wearing red caps fill a room in the main building at the Webster County Fairgrounds Wednesday evening as the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight banquet begins. About 118 veterans will be on the Sept. 13 flight to Washington, D.C. In the nation’s capital, they will tour the war memorials.

He grew up in Cooper and was drafted for military service right out of high school during World War II. He was ordered to report to a military induction center in Kansas. There, he stood in a long line with other draftees. At the end of the line, an Army colonel was in a room and a Navy captain was in another room. He went in the room with the Navy captain and became a sailor.

He completed boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois. Then he went to northern California to begin a Pacific Ocean voyage in a converted cargo ship.

Pittman went to Johnston Island, where there was an air base used by both the Navy and the Army Air Force. He said when the weather was good, there was a plane taking off or landing essentially every minute.

However, Pittman did not work with the planes. He was a cook and eventually, he was in charge of the kitchen when he was on-duty.

When Japan surrendered, ending World War II, everyone on Johnston Island celebrated.

“Oh man, we had a party,” Pittman said. ” Everybody was tickled it was over with.”

Eventually, he returned to the United States and was discharged from the Navy in July 1946 in St. Louis, Missouri.

He said he had been out of military service for about 10 minutes when he enlisted in the Naval Reserve.

He was called back to active duty when the Korean War started, but his orders were rescinded after a week and he returned to civilian life.

For most of his time in the Naval Reserve, he was a member of a Construction Battalion. Those units build ports, airfields, roads and structures for the Navy. Over the years, he worked at bases in California, Hawaii and other locales.

In 1986, he retired with the rank of equipment operator first class.

Clabaugh’s military service overlapped with that of Pittman for a few years. The Fort Dodge man was in the Army from 1968 to 1971.

For much of that time he was in the 656th Engineer Battalion in West Germany. His job was to print maps. He said some of those maps were considered secret because they showed details of Soviet military bases.

The masses of Soviet troops in nearby East Germany always posed a potential threat. Clabaugh said there were a couple of alerts while he was stationed there.

“We had to be on our toes,” he said.

Clabaugh was fortunate to be joined at the banquet by three generations of his family. He was accompanied by his daughter, Sara Clabaugh; his granddaughter, Aubrey Kerwin; and his great-granddaughter, Kendall Rose Clabaugh. Including him, there were four generations of Clabaughs at the banquet.

Leinbaugh, of Holstein, served in the Army from 1971 to 1972. After he was out of the Army and working as a truck driver, he parked his semi near the White House to explore Washington a little bit.

His father, Wyman Leinbaugh, was a combat veteran of World War II and an uncle was in the Korean War. Therefore, he is eager to see the World War II Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

Army veteran Phillip Hesseltine, of Panora, said a neighbor who went on a previous Honor Flight convinced him to go.

“He gave me the application, I filled it out and the rest is history,” Hesseltine said.

He served in the Army from 1966 to 1969 in the 272nd Military Police Co. and the 9th Infantry Division. He said he wants to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

“A friend of mine’s name is on there,” he said.

Honor Flight is all day excursion

The Sept. 13 Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight will give veterans a whirlwind tour of the nation’s war memorials.

The flight will depart Fort Dodge Regional Airport early that morning. The chartered jet will land at Dulles International Airport in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.

There, the veterans will board buses that will take them to the Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the United States Navy Memorial, the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and the Air Force Memorial.

The group will return to Fort Dodge late that night.

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