In the whole of his 95 years, Kenneth Anderson had never experienced a moment like it.

He clutched a wreath.

He was preparing to place it on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

The silence marking the solemnity of the ceremony was interrupted only by the soft shuffle of the soldiers as they went about their precise movements.

“It was an impressive moment,” said Anderson, a World War II veteran from Baker City.

But hardly the only one on a trip that Anderson will always cherish.

He was among 29 veterans — and one of just two who served during World War II — who traveled to Washington, D.C., last week as guests of the Honor Flight program.

The nonprofit organization provides all-expenses-paid trips to the nation’s capital for military veterans.

“I was very honored to be picked,” Anderson said on Tuesday morning, Sept. 27. “I’m very proud and thankful. I know why they call it an Honor Flight. It was something special.”

Anderson, who grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in November 1944, just before his 18th birthday.

He moved to Baker City in 1989.

He had never been to the nation’s capital.

Anderson was accompanied on his Honor Flight by Dave Cross, who lives just across the street from Anderson’s home.

Cross, 61, who served in the U.S. Army for 27 years and has lived in Baker City for three years, learned during conversations with Anderson that his neighbor had served in the Navy during World War II.

Cross was familiar with Honor Flight.

This past winter he got in touch with Honor Flight of Central Oregon, one of 130 regional hubs for the nationwide program. And although Honor Flight of Central Oregon’s one annual trip was already booked, the organization made room for Anderson, since World War II vets — the youngest of whom are, like Anderson, well into their 90s — have first priority.

Cross, who went along as Anderson’s guardian, drove Anderson to Redmond on Sept. 20. They, along with 28 other veterans, each of whom also had a guardian, spent Sept. 22 and 23 touring Washington, D.C. They returned to Redmond on Saturday, Sept. 24, where the veterans were greeted with a ceremony that included the Ridgeview High School marching band playing military hymns.

Touring the capital

Anderson said the visit to Arlington National Cemetery was an emotional experience.

He said he was awed by the sight of thousands of white crosses, all perfectly aligned.

He marveled at the vista, which includes the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

“Talk about a view,” Anderson said.

He was impressed by the Sentinels, whose members have guarded the tomb every minute since 1937.

These soldiers are members of the 3rd Infantry Division, known as the “Old Guard.”

The Sentinels wear military issue shoes that have a shank of steel on the heel that allows the shoes to make a distinctive click.

However, when Sentinels walk past veterans they briefly slide their heel on the ground, a recognition afforded only to veterans such as Anderson and the other members of the Honor Flight.

Cross said he noticed that subtle tribute.

While the Honor Flight group was at Arlington, they witnessed an interment, with the casket carried on a horse-drawn carriage, a 21-gun salute and a flyover by military jets.

“The timing was impeccable,” Cross said. “It was special. The highlight for me was when (Anderson) laid the wreath.”

Other sites

Although Anderson was comfortably ensconced in a wheelchair during much of their two busy days, he made an exception at the Lincoln Memorial.

There he climbed 58 steps.

“Believe it or not I made it up there,” he said. “One of my legs is not so good.”

Anderson said the Lincoln Memorial is an “impressive sight” — much larger than it appears in photographs.

The Honor Flight group also toured the U.S. Capitol, where the veterans met with Congressman Cliff Bentz, the Ontario Republican whose district includes Baker County.

Bentz presented each veteran with a certificate and a folded American flag that had previously flown over the Capitol.

Cross chuckled as he notes that Bentz, when it was his turn to greet Anderson, said “I know you.”

Anderson, who earned a degree in mining engineering and geology in 1950 and has been a mine manager, consultant and owner, said he has met Bentz a few times — “and I’ve written him many letters” — to advocate for the rights of miners to work on public land.

The group also visited the National Archives museum, where Anderson looked at the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Anderson said the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial was “very spectacular.”

The only disappointment on the trip, he said, is that it had to end.

“There’s so much to see,” Anderson said. “We could have spent days at each (site).”

Red carpet treatment

Throughout the trip, whether on an airplane, a bus or in the Sheraton Hotel where the veterans stayed, Anderson said the treatment was first class.

“I felt thoroughly honored,” he said.

He said he and the other World War II veteran — who is just a month or so older than Anderson — were always at the front of the group.

Which meant, Anderson said with a laugh, that he was in a large percentage of the photographs that an Honor Flight representative took.

Anderson said the meals were top notch — including the sack lunches that the veterans had to ensure they didn’t miss any prime locations.

“Those sandwiches — you never ate any like that before,” he said.

To cite just one example of how well Honor Flight of Central Oregon coordinated the trip, Anderson said he accidentally forgot some medications, leaving them on his kitchen table the morning he and Cross left Baker City.

When they arrived in Redmond, a doctor who traveled with the group immediately phoned Anderson’s physician in Baker City and then rushed to a pharmacy to make sure he had the medicine he needed.

Cross said the doctor even took an Uber to the pharmacy.

And Honor Flight paid for it all.

“It was a lovely thing,” Anderson said.

“The whole thing with Honor Flight is that it’s zero cost to the veteran,” Cross said. “Not a nickel.”

On the flight back to Oregon, Cross said there was a military-style “mail call,” with thank you notes handed out.

Although all the veterans received a pile of letters, none was nearly as thick as Anderson’s.

“He was inundated,” Cross said.

Many of those letters were from employees at the Baker County Sheriff’s Office or students at Baker schools.

Anderson said he has thanked Sheriff’s Office workers, and he plans to visit local schools to tell students about his trip.

When the group landed in Redmond, they were not only welcomed, but each was also presented with a hand-stitched “quilt of valor.”

Anderson said he appreciated every gesture, and every aspect of a trip that honored his service to his country more than three quarters of a century ago.

“Altogether it was very, very nice and we appreciated it.”

“I was very honored to be picked. I’m very proud and thankful. I know why they call it an Honor Flight. It was something special.”

— Kenneth Anderson, 95, World War II veteran from Baker City