Honor Flight trip 'wonderful experience' for Thunderbird veteran
Like many World War II vets, Melvin Thielbar of McCook doesn't care to re-hash his wartime experience very often.
When he and the rest of the U.S. Army 45th "Thunderbird" Infantry Division liberated the Dachou concentration camp, he said, "We don't like to talk about that much. Bodies everywhere." Of the hard-fought battle at Anzio, where U.S. troops withstood four months of violent assaults from the enemy before finally pushing through to France, he simply said, "That was tough."
And when the 45th, along with the 42nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions, overtook Nuremburg, all he said was, "That's where we finished up at."
But ask him about the recent Nebraska Honor Flight trip he took with other World War II veterans, and his eyes light up.
"I'll never forget it, it was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life," he enthused.
He and about 700 World War II vets from across Nebraska boarded 747 planes in Omaha April 23 and 24 and were flown in two flight to Washington D.C. to view the World War II Memorial.
The one-day, all-expense paid trip was funded by private donations and coordinated by many volunteers, including the Nebraska VFW.
In fact, it was only because the local VFW gave Thielbar an application for the trip that he was made aware of the flights, he said.
It was the seventh Nebraska Honor Flight since they started flying the veterans in 2008.
Of the 16 million veterans of World War II, one in four are still alive, USA Today reported in 2006. But their numbers are dwindling, with 1,100 passing away each day.
Thielbar said he was impressed at how well they were taken care of. Outfitted with red shirts, caps and a "fannypack" filled with disposal cameras, water and packets of tissue, the flight took about an hour and a half to get to Washington, he said.
"They fed us every time we turned around," he said. "At the breakfast in Omaha, on the plane, on the bus, everywhere."
With more than half of the vets in wheelchairs, "I felt like a young kid," he laughed. Despite the dizzying pace of the trip -- they left at 3 a.m., and returned to Omaha at 12 midnight -- Thielbar said it was worth it.
"It brought so many memories back, talking with other guys," he said. "I am so glad I went."
Tucked somewhere in the attic of his house are other memories he brought home with him from the war that he hasn't looked at in years. There's a 14 foot long swastika flag, that hung in a row with other swastika flags in the pavillion at Zeppelin Field during the massive Nazi rallies in Nuremburg. There's a dagger sheathed in a leather case and a Luger pistol, favored weapons of SS officers who wore them every day with their uniform.
The items were found in a warehouse in Nuremburg, Thielbar said, when the 45th captured the city.
After being drafted right out of high school in 1943, Thielbar spent four weeks of training at Fort Still, Okla., before being sent overseas and joining the 45th as a replacement in the 189th Field Artillery Battalion.
The 45th Infantry Division made its first landing in Sicily, Italy and after Sicily, worked its way up to Anzio, where they encountered four months of enemy fire.
From there, his next landing was in France, he said, where the American troops pushed north and crossed the Rhine River into Germany. They advanced forward and finished up in Nuremburg.
The major accomplishments for which the 45th is remembered are the liberation of 32,000 inmates at Dachau concentration camp and the battle at Anzio, which was a turning point in the victory of the Allies in World War II.
The unit saw a total of 511 days of combat, with more than 20,000 soldiers in the division killed, wounded or missing in action.
