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Vietnam vets honored with a trip to D.C.

Local veteran Edmund Woodard shares a hug with his daughter Bonnie before being picked up for an Honor Flight from Saranac Lake on Friday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

PLATTSBURGH — Four residents in Saranac Lake and Keene Valley will be among the honored veterans participating this weekend in the last North Country Honor Flight of the year.

In a whirlwind of a weekend, the veterans were picked up on Friday by escorts made up of local police, fire departments, sheriff departments and lots of motorcycles. The veterans and their accompanying guardians were treated to a dinner last night and will spend today in Washington, D.C. touring memorials and monuments.

The send-off ceremony will start at 7 a.m. today, followed by a parade to Plattsburgh International Airport. They will be welcomed home at 8:30 p.m. Both the send-off and return will take place at Veterans Park on the US Oval in Plattsburgh, and the public is welcome to attend.

The North Country Honor Flight has also been given $100,000 in state funding thanks to the efforts of Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake. Jones presented the check at Lake City Choppers Friday. This flight also marks the last time that the “Thunder in the Burgh” escort will be led by Lloyd Provost, who plans to hand off these duties, according to North Country Honor Flight Executive Director Barrie Finnegan. They are expecting an extra large, and loud, motorcycle turnout today.

The North Country Honor Flight is a volunteer-run organization that is part of the national Honor Flight Network. In May, Dusty Smith of Lake Placid and Barry Bedore of Saranac Lake attended. Wilbur (Bill) Lyon of Vermontville and Dale Gonyea of Bloomingdale went in June. Ed McCasland of Lake Placid went in August.

Local Vietnam veteran Phil Newton, center, and his wife Dianne Fortado speak with New York State Police Trooper James D’Ambro before D’Ambro gave Newton a police escort for an Honor Flight on Friday. Fortado said these Honor Flights are important to Vietnam veterans, because they did not receive the honor when they returned home from that war. “They couldn’t separate the veterans from the war, so they really deserve this,” she said. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

John DeZalia, Keene Valley

John DeZalia is a true Adirondack native and fourth generation resident of Keene Valley who still lives in his parents’ house. He’s been a member of the volunteer fire department for 58 years and worked for both the Essex County Sheriff Department and the court system. His daughter, Heather DeZalia, works at Keene Central School.

DeZalia joined the U.S. Air Force right out of high school. He had a childhood friend and classmate who joined at the same time and they tried to end up in the same branch. That didn’t work out so well. DeZalia’s friend ended up in the Navy, but DeZalia didn’t mind.

John DeZalia of Keene Valley talks with Stephen Duso of the Essex County Sheriff’s Department outside his home on Friday. DeZalia’s daughter arranged to have Duso pick DeZalia up as a part of his North Country Honor Flight escort. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

“I was glad I wasn’t on a submarine — they’re a little claustrophobic,” he said.

In the Air Force, DeZalia was a part of the air crew survival team. They were responsible for maintaining equipment: everything from changing expired rations and cleaning helmets to inspecting parachutes and training crews in survival skills. It was during the Vietnam War, so the crews were mostly on B-52 bombers.

One of his favorite memories from his time in service was being chosen for the Air Force bobsled team, which practiced at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid.

DeZalia has been on the waiting list for the North Country Honor Flight for about two years, but he doesn’t mind the wait. He feels lucky to have been chosen. Honor Flight participants are generally prioritized by age so that older veterans get a chance to go, but DeZalia, in his words, is a “pretty healthy 76.”

“It’s kind of hard to want to go when I know there’s others that are worse off,” he said. “I was more than willing to take my time to get there.”

Heather is excited to visit Washington, D.C. for the first time as her father’s escort for the weekend. She planned some surprises to make the weekend extra special — like asking some family friends at the sheriff’s department to be a part of the escort. She lives with her parents, so it’s hard to keep a surprise secret.

“We’re not the type of people who want a lot of show,” Heather said. “But something like this, to me, I feel like should be.”

In fact, Heather has been so inspired by the mission of the North Country Honor Flight that she hopes to find a way to volunteer with them when she gets back.

Michael Foley, Saranac Lake

Michael Foley, 76, comes from a family of Marines. His father and cousin were both Marines, so he decided to join also. He served from the late 1960s into the early 1970s and was stationed several states, including North Carolina, California and Hawaii.

“Then I came back to get my shots so I could go to South East Asia,” Foley said. “I went to Okinawa. They attached my unit to the Navy and we went to Hong Kong.”

Then came Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. When Foley thinks about his time in the Marines, the friendship is what stands out. He had a bunk-mate for two years from North Carolina — Foley called him “Cackalack.”

“We used to work together, we stayed drunk together,” Foley said.

Foley has lived in Saranac Lake since 1984. He worked in maintenance at the hospital for 20 years, left, then returned to work in nursing for another 11 years. His brother, Shawn Clark, lives in Plattsburgh but works in Saranac Lake. Foley found out about the Honor Flight through his brother, who will also be going with him to the capital.

Foley knows exactly what he’s doing when he gets to Washington, D.C. He wants to say thank you to two of the men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima since his father was there during World War II. He visited the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall when it came to Lake Placid, but it’s not the same as the real thing, Foley said. His cousin, an Army Green Beret, served and died in the Vietnam War.

“His name’s on the wall, so I finally get a chance to go say goodbye to him,” Foley said.

Phil Newton, Saranac Lake

Phil Newton, 78, served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, from 1965 to 1968. He ended up in the Air Force Security Police, which wasn’t necessarily his first choice. At his first assignment in Texas, he essentially spent his days at the entrance to the base, checking IDs and waving people through. Then he was sent to the Tuy Hoa Air Base in Vietnam.

“It was the same kind of a job there, except, of course, people were shooting at us from time to time,” Newton said.

Particularly during the Tet Offensive in the early years of 1968, the job became more combat-oriented. Newton helped defend the base from attack throughout that year. He was honorably discharged in December 1968 and returned to his home state of Illinois.

Newton moved to Saranac Lake with his wife, Diane Fortado, shortly after the 1980 Winter Olympics. Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, he had a good friend from high school who had moved to the Adirondacks after a brief stint at Paul Smith’s College. Newton and his wife had been waiting for an opportunity to move. When they got here, jobs were hard to come by and Newton worked a variety of part-time jobs.

“It took me a while, but I eventually backed into teaching because of my interest in history,” Newton said.

As a veteran, Newton has found friendship and camaraderie in the Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter in Saranac Lake. He joined in part because some of his close friends were a part of the organization. Newton is grateful to the VFW, and in particular its president, Joe Fisher, for informing him about the North Country Honor Flight and nominating him to participate. This weekend isn’t just about him, Newton emphasized, but about all of the veterans who are being honored and the volunteers who make it happen.

“I think the idea of being a part of this wonderful honoring of all veterans is what really excites me,” Newton said. “It’s almost like being in a parade with people you’re proud to be in the parade with.”

Edmund Woodard, Saranac Lake

Edmund Woodard Jr., 77, who was born and raised in Saranac Lake, joined the U.S. Marines right after high school. He didn’t know what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, and this gave him some time to figure it out.

“My father was in the Army, and I figured I’d do my obligation,” Woodard said.

After spending some time stationed in the U.S., Woodard was sent to Vietnam from December of 1966 to January of 1968. He was a crew chief and a door gunner on a helicopter for two three-month-long tours, based out of Phu Bai. One of his last experiences still sticks vividly in his mind. During a rocket attack around the time of the Tet Offensive, his helicopter was almost completely destroyed.

“The chopper was Swiss cheese,” Woodard said. “But the camera that sat on my seat was untouched, so I got a lot of good pictures.”

After that, he returned to the States and was stationed in Philadelphia for the rest of his time in the Marines. The day his service ended, he started a job at the American Management Association back in Saranac Lake, where he worked for around 30 years. His wife’s family is also from the area, and they raised three kids here — two sons and a daughter.

When asked what he learned from his time serving in the military, he said he still agrees with the sense of duty that caused him to join in the first place.

“I think every person should step up to the plate,” Woodard said.

His oldest son also served in the Marines for four years, and his younger son Christopher, who lives in the area, will be accompanying him on this trip to the capital.

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