North Dakota Navy Veteran among those on Minot’s first Western ND Honor Flight

BLAISDELL, N.D. (KMOT) - The Western N.D. Honor Flight is getting ready to take off once again, and for the first time, they’ll be flying out of the Magic City.

A record number of 118 veterans will spend two days in Washington, D.C., visiting national monuments and memorials.

U.S. Navy veteran Bernie Wirtz was assigned to two different ships before embarking on what he said was supposed to be a world cruise.

“We were supposed to go completely around the world,” said Wirtz.

Before the journey, he was supposed to be deployed to Vietnam, but he was transferred to a different ship, changing his course entirely. He said they left from Virginia in the ’60s to go through the Panama Canal.

“Up through the Indian Ocean, up through the Suez Canal, and then cross the Med, and cross the Atlantic, and home again. Well, they tore up the Suez Canal, so that ended it,” said Wirtz.

At just 18 years old in 1964, he served our country, hoping to become a Seabee, or someone who worked with heavy equipment.

However, his journey took another turn, and he became an electronics technician instead.

Wirtz was responsible for working on radars and making sure enemies could be spotted from a distance.

“We wouldn’t come in to work on it. We worked on it at sea, and that ship never stopped,” said Wirtz.

Wirtz served four years in the Navy. After his service, he owned construction and electronics businesses before retiring.

Now, the 80-year-old is among more than 100 other North Dakota veterans headed to Washington on this honor flight.

The group will tour roughly a dozen different historic sites, but he said he’s looking forward to seeing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall the most.

“There was a lot of good men that got left,” said Wirtz.

Thanks to his wife and kids for urging him to sign up for the flight, he’ll be able to see the wall and pay tribute to those who won’t get to see it alongside him.

“They had never got to go to the wall,” said Wirtz.

KMOT Reporter Kyona Rivera will be traveling with them and will bring you coverage along the way.

They’ll return to Minot Monday evening, and the public is also encouraged to be at the airport again to welcome them home. They are projected to arrive at 7 p.m.