WWII veteran Bill Wilde of West Bend served in the U.S. Army from Nov. 1945 – 1946. A graduate of Marquette High School, Wilde was drafted when he was 18 years old. Today he is going on the Stars & Stripes Honor Flight and Interfaith volunteer Dick Stommel, a Marine Corp. veteran from the Vietnam era, stepped forward to help give him a ride to the airport.
Stommel has been a volunteer driver for more than 12 years. “Bill deserved to go and he really needed a wheelchair van to get him down there,” he said. “I’ve been blessed, I served my country in the military and Bill’s going to enjoy this and I’m going to get him there.”
Stommel served in the Marines from 1961-64. He got up at 3:45 a.m. to deliver Wilde to the airport and he’s going back down to Milwaukee later tonight to bring him home.