The journey to Washington, D.C., to pay homage to the vets of a war that claimed 400,000 American lives was a highlight for her.
But there also were mixed emotions and moments of sadness for the 86-year-old Dayton woman. The most touching moment was posing for a photo with a portrait of her late husband and his American flag, presented at his funeral.
“I couldn’t contain my tears ... I was extremely proud,” Holt McDufford said. “He was with me in spirit and I know he was proud, too.”
Harry McDufford, a former sergeant in the Army, passed away in 2003 at the age of 85 as a result of kidney failure.
The couple lived in Xenia for five years before moving to Dayton. Sending a war bride on one of the Honor Flights was a first for the Springfield organization, which is headed by Earl Morris. Honor Flight has hubs in 33 states and has honored more than 17,000 WWII vets with visits to all the war memorials.
“It was so special for me,” said Holt McDufford, a former member of the British Royal Air Force, who met her husband-to-be at a Salvation Army canteen in Liverpool during the war. They were married in January 1944 in her hometown of Wallasey.
The former retail store clerk blushed and laughed when recalling the Honor Flight plane landing at the Baltimore-Washington Airport.
“I saw this huge crowd as we deplaned and wondered what was going on ... then I realized the crowd was there to greet us,” she said.
“It was so patriotic and exciting, but sad, too, as the veterans mingled and exchanged war stories.’’
She also said, “There was a band at the (Dayton) airport to welcome us home, but what I’ll always remember was an American soldier standing by himself, at attention and saluting as we passed by.”
Holt McDufford has a daughter and son-in-law, Marjorie and Lowell Martin in New Carlisle and a son, David McDufford, who resides in West Chester Twp.
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