DaytonDailyNews.com

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Several recreational vehicles rumbled out of the Cracker Barrel parking lot in Springfield on Friday, Sept. 19, each packed with a handful of veterans who had been waiting weeks and sometimes months for the 10-hour journey to Washington, D.C.

The trip also had a special significance for Honor Flight, an organization that started in Springfield in 2004 to transport veterans to their World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. For the first time, a caravan of RVs took the veterans for the roughly three-day journey. Previously, Honor Flight volunteers and veterans flew on commercial airliners.

Earl Morse, who founded the organization, said if the trip goes according to plan, it could be a template for other chapters around the country to follow. Many veterans live in rural towns without easy access to an airport, he said.

Morse said the trip would not have been possible without volunteers who collected and donated money so the veterans could take the trip for free. Several of the RV drivers also volunteered their vehicles and their time.

"I consider our program to be extremely blessed," Morse said.

Two of the drivers , Gary Davis of Phillipsburg and Bernie Coppock of Franklin, said it was an honor to donate their time to the cause.

"There isn't enough we can do for these people." Davis said.

Dewey Brosey, of New Carlisle, sat and talked with Sandy Kinnamon, a friend accompanying him on the trip.

A former gunner in the Army Air Corps, Brosey said he was happy to see the accomplishments of his unit finally recognized.

Millie Poff, a former teletype operator in the Navy from Mason, Ohio, seemed to steal much of the show as the veterans met and chatted over breakfast at Cracker Barrel on Leffel Lane. Morse made a special point to note that Poff was a veteran herself, and not a veteran's wife. Poff left home to work in Washington, D.C., when she was 18, but was forced to resign when government officials discovered her age and told her she was too young to work. At the time, women serving in that agency had to be at least 20 years old, she said.

"I loved to travel," she said. "Anyone says go and I'm ready."

Her table mate, John E. Kauffman, of Franklin, sat quietly and smiled as she spoke. He said he was excited to finally see the monument that honored his service.

"I couldn't sleep last night," he said. Kauffman had served in the Navy and in the southwest Pacific and later served a tour of duty in the U.S. Army.