As the flight touched down in Billings, more than a thousand people were there to welcome home some of America’s heroes.

For many on the plane from Washington, D.C. — the last Big Sky Honor Flight for World War II veterans — it was a bittersweet feeling.

Kalispell veterans Jerry Kasala, Phil Iverson and Paul Cannaday were on that last flight in late April. 

“It was fabulous,” Cannaday said of the trip. “The unexpected greetings we received in Washington and Billings were fantastic. Hundreds of people saw us off, waving goodbye.”

Honor Flights began in 2005 in Ohio as a way of honoring veterans for the service they provided in the largest war mankind has ever known.

Since then, thousands of World War II veterans have been flown from regional hubs to Washington, D.C., to visit the World War II Memorial.

Nine separate flights of Montana veterans have made the trip. Some of those who waited until this last flight had very different reasons.

“I wasn’t even aware of this program until last summer,” Iverson said. “I went to naval boot camp in Farragut, Idaho, and I was the last to come back to the reunions. I guess it’s fitting I was on the last flight as well.”

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans from that war are dying at a rate of 640 a day, so the flights are ending not for lack of interest, but simply lack of veterans who can make the flight.

Another local veteran, Roland Engdahl, left his nursing home and his dialysis treatments to go on the flight as a final wish. Only ten days after returning to Columbia Falls, he refused his treatments and died.

His daughter, Sue Sweigart, said he went out his way.

“I told him, ‘Dad, you’re a soldier till the end,’” she said. “He had his plan and lived a long, full life. My heart feels a lot of different things right now.”

Engdahl, a former U.S. Army Corporal, was bombarded by media in the capital. Born in Williamsport, Pa., he served in the 2nd Infantry Division and 293rd Field Artillery Observation Battalion, earning unit citations and a Bronze Star. After his service, he was a longtime steelworker.

He died at age 88.

Veterans were escorted by helpers to carry water, push wheelchairs and assist the heroes in making the trip easier. The costs of the flight, meals and hotels were covered for the veterans.

“They treated us royally,” said Iverson, 90, a former U.S. Navy motor machinist’s mate first class. “It far exceeded what I expected. We were very well taken care of.”

Iverson, born in Eugene, Ore., is a former Glacier National Park superintendent. He also worked at nearly a dozen other national parks before retiring in Kalispell in 1980. The naval hat he wore in Washington, D.C., drew attention for one of the buttons he put on it. 

“I’ve survived damn near everything,” he said with a laugh. 

He worked on landing craft used in the invasion of the Marshall Islands, Ulithi Atoll, Saipan and the Philippines.

“I was on a supply ship, I missed out on the piloting the landing craft,” he said. “Lucky for me. That was a dangerous job.”

Seated next to Iverson on the plane was Cannaday, a former U.S. Marine Corps corporal.

He had turned down the flight four times, thinking there was nothing for him there. He was elated to be wrong.

“They were treating us like kings,” Cannaday said. “We got lots of loot, too. This was the ninth trip, so I’m not sure if the first eight were like this, but this one was first class.”

Born in Roanoke, Va., on Christmas Eve 1924, Cannaday saw some of the roughest parts of the Pacific theater. He invaded the Marshall Islands, Okinawa and was on Ie Shima (now Iejima) where he was close enough to watch famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle die. 

“He was driving his Jeep down the road when the guns opened up on him,” Cannaday said. “He crashed it and poked his head up. That’s when they hit him. That’s why you don’t stick your head up.”

Cannaday, 89, survived the war without any major wounds and went to work on several dams after graduating with a civil engineering degree from Virginia Tech. He landed at Hungry Horse Dam.

When the Korean War arrived, he was called back into active duty and was about to ship out but a leg injury caused at the dam prevented that.

“I went to Hanford after that,” Cannaday said. “Then I got a call from Mel Ruder [then the editor at the Hungry Horse News] telling me to get up there to work on this aluminum plant.”

After a 30-year career at the plant in Columbia Falls, he retired.

Kasala, an 85-year old Marine Corps veteran, served in both the World War II and the Korean War. After his fighting days were done, Kasala got a business degree from the University of Montana before becoming an insurance adjuster.

His wife, Claire, said Jerry had the time of his life on the trip.

For many of the veterans, it would likely be the last big trip. For Engdahl, it was the one he needed.

“He told me this was his last hurrah,” Sweigart said of her father. “When we got to Washington, he took my hands and told me, ‘We made it.’”

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.