Many islanders likely know Bob Norton as “the fruit guy,” and given his co-founding of the Vashon Fruit Club and long career as an expert horticulturist and director of University of Washington’s research facility in Mount Vernon, it’s not an inaccurate reference. But Norton’s adult life and career started out on a very different path, one that resulted in a special trip to Washington, D.C. on Sept. 27.
Norton was a member of the U.S. Navy during World War II after being drafted out of college at the age of 18. As an active serviceman during that war, he was recently eligible for an all-expenses-paid trip to our nation’s capital courtesy of a non-profit group called Puget Sound Honor Flight — part of a nationwide Honor Flight network comprised of about 150 chapters.
“I read about the group in a newspaper article and called them right away,” Norton said.
At 88 years old, Norton had never seen the war or service branch memorials that so poignantly adorn the National Mall in Washington. That, as the Honor Flight Network’s mission statement declares, is precisely the reason the program exists — to transport American veterans on “one last mission” to visit and reflect at the memorials built in their honor.
The program, which began in 2005, was the brainchild of Earl Morse, a physician’s assistant and retired Air Force captain. Morse was working at a Veteran’s Administration clinic in Ohio in 2004, the same year that the World War II memorial was completed. His idea blossomed when he discovered that his most senior patients wouldn’t be making the trip to see the memorial, as age and finances were prohibitive, since most WWII vets were heading into their 80s and 90s. So Morse, who was also a private pilot, decided to offer his services to fly two of his patients to Washington at no cost to them to see the memorial. Their emotional acceptance spurred him to contact other pilots to help give more veterans this opportunity. Eleven pilots stepped up to volunteer, and in May of 2005, the first Honor Flights took off.
The network has grown over the years, and in March of 2013, the Puget Sound chapter was born to honor Western Washington veterans, giving priority to WWII vets and those who are terminally ill.
Included in the Honor Flight trips are flights to and from Washington, D.C., courtesy of Southwest Airlines, accommodation for two nights, all meals, charter bus transportation, personal chaperones to provide a tour of all of the war and service memorials around the capital and commemorative service medallions. Each vet also receives letters of thanks written by people of all ages from all over the world as well as a surprise welcome at the airport upon returning, with active service members, family and friends waiting to celebrate.
“That was really the best part,” Norton said. “Seeing my family waiting for me when we arrived back in Seattle. … They had kept that a secret from us, and it was such a surprise and just wonderful.”
Norton was a Naval ship fitter during the war, stationed primarily in New Orleans. He had trained to be a diesel mechanic on a landing craft in the Pacific, but because he needed glasses, he was prohibited from combat.
“I missed not being able to go with my buddies,” he said, “but in a way I guess, being where I was saved my life.”
Surprisingly, he was referring primarily to his career.
Before being conscripted to service, Norton was struggling through a chemical engineering program in college. But while he was serving in New Orleans, he happened to visit a United States Department of Agriculture site where he saw some of the first hydroponics experiments.
“They were growing plants, in nothing but water. … I was fascinated,” he said. “When I got out of the service, I went back to school but changed my focus to horticulture.”
And the rest, as most of Vashon’s fruit growers and consumers know, is history.
