Filming an honor flight’s living history

Spencer Turkin, a 2008 Hewlett High School graduate and senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, accompanied World War II Veterans on an honor flight to Washington, D.C. to see the World War II memorial, many for the first time, and captured their experience for a documentary that will broadcast on Veterans Day.

“It was an amazing experience; very eye opening and humbling,” Turkin said of the trip. “To spend a day with veterans in D.C., to witness them see their memorial for the first time ever was amazing.”

Turkin, a broadcast journalism major, has hosted the talk radio show, Illini Drive at Five, broadcasted for the Big Ten network and interned at the MLB network, but had yet to film a documentary, until now. “This is my first documentary and while it’s a daunting task, I’ve had a lot of people help me with the preparation,” he said.

John Paul, a lecturer in the journalism department at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign, said the idea to film the honor flight started with him. “I contacted them (the Central Illinois Honor Flight program) and asked if they minded if a student interviewed a veteran before the trip,” he said. “I put Spencer in contact with them and they told him, ‘why don’t you come with us?’”

Don Niehart, the trip organizer and president of the Central Illinois Honor Flight program, said after watching a television program about a man in Ohio who started the same organization, he knew he wanted to bring it to Illinois. “The statistic that 1,000 World War II Veterans are dying per day in the United States startled me,” he said. “The memorial was built in 2004, 60 years too late.”

Niehart said health, mobility and monetary concerns prevent veterans from taking the trip to see the memorial in Washington, D.C. “Being able to provide them that opportunity is great,” he said.

The Oct. 18 trip went smoothly, according to Niehart, who said 73 veterans went on the program’s 16th flight to D.C. When the arrived back at the Urbana-Champaign airport, radio stations and almost 2,000 friends and family of the veterans were waiting. “It was an amazing day and an amazing ending,” Niehart said.

When asked how Hewlett High School has impacted his college days, Turkin, who dreams of becoming a play-by-play sports announcer, said, “There’s something about coming from a Long Island high school that really stays with you because you have a different competitive edge than everyone else,” he said. “The education level you receive from a Long Island high school, specifically a Five Towns high school, really sets you apart and I see it everyday.”

Niehart said Turkin’s enthusiasm about the trip was amazing. “He was calling me every other day, asking me questions,” he said. “I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him for sure.”

Turkin’s documentary is set to air on UI-7, the university’s public access channel on Nov. 11, Veterans Day. “I hope my film will open the eyes of younger people in my generation and make them aware of the fact that there are only a few more years left with these veterans,” he said. “You can’t learn the same thing in a textbook that you can learn from these people. They’re the reason why we’re all still here.”