Gaylord's Mankowski boards 'Honor Flight'

GAYLORD — Anthony “Tony” Mankowski, still spry at 89, left his hometown Sept. 26 to spend one day covering Washington, D.C., “like a wet blanket,” touring war memorials with dozens of fellow military veterans.

A radioman for the Army Security Agency during the Korean War, Mankowski boarded the Mid-Michigan Honor Flight from Traverse City to the nation’s capital with his son, Mark, as his guardian. The Honor Flight requires each vet to have a guardian and a wheelchair, which Mark ended up pushing empty the entire day while Mankowski, who walks at least 6 miles a week, toured the sights on foot.

“I didn’t feel like riding in a chair,” he chuckled.

Three buses, escorted by police, took the veterans to memorials for World War II, Vietnam and Korea, as well as numerous monuments and Arlington National Cemetery. Mankowski witnessed the ceremonial changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and was interviewed by local television at the Korean War Veterans Memorial, which depicts 19 poncho-clad infantrymen cast in steel crossing a rice paddy.

Mankowski was last in D.C. in 1951, between boot camp and radio-communications training in Virginia. He spent 14 months in Korea, some of which on a small island near the 38th parallel, intercepting coded messages from North Korea and China. His 10-man crew lived in a cold tent, heated only by a potbelly oil-burning stove.

“The oil would sometimes freeze at night,” he said.

Mankowski’s island location doubled as an emergency landing strip for Navy pilots whose planes were too damaged to land on carriers offshore. His base was also frequently overshot by the U.S.S. Missouri’s massive, 16-inch guns whose shells “whistled overhead” on their way to North Korean targets.

His boat was the first into Seattle, Washington, one week after the armistice was signed in July 1953. The arrival was met with much pomp and circumstance as it coincided with a governors’ convention in Seattle.

The Mid-Michigan Honor Flight is the Mecosta-based chapter of a national nonprofit which aims to “transport America’s veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit those memorials dedicated to honor the service and sacrifices of themselves and their friends,” according to HonorFlight.org. This was the 10th mission for the Mecosta chapter. Mankowski applied to Honor Flight three years ago.

Mankowski had five brothers and five sisters, and has a tremendous depth of knowledge for Gaylord history as he’s lived 89 years of it. As a teenager, he set pins at a bowling alley above the Sugar Bowl, and drove a milk truck for Gaylord Dairy. He can name grocers, butchers and gas-station owners from 70 years ago as if he’d been there this morning.

After his military service, he worked at Standard Products, retiring in the 1990s. He has three children. His wife, Bertha, died Dec. 7, 2010.

His neighbor, Dawn DePew, has shared a property line with him for the last eight years.

“A lot of times in the spring and summer he’ll stop over for a visit,” DePew said. “He’s sharp as a tack about Gaylord history and talk is usually about the history of the town.”

She said they attend St. Mary Cathedral together where he is an usher, and has become part of the family to the DePews.

“The kids have grown real close to him, like a grandfather figure,” she said. “He gives them hugs at church and always has candy for them at Halloween.”

More information about Mid-Michigan Honor Flight can be found at MidMichiganHonorFlight.com.