That's the urgency behind Central Missouri Honor Flight, an all-volunteer organization KOMU viewers helped get off the ground.

Howard Collins is a living piece of history...

Mr. Collins once pulled a pilot out of a burning scout bomber.

This navy bombardier crashed landed into the Atlantic, broke his back during the war, was paralyzed for weeks and spent three months in a body cast, wondering if he'd ever be able to walk again.

He is just one of 80 pieces of history on this honor flight.

As nearly 80 World War II veterans got off the bus at the St. Louis airport, Southwest Airlines employees played a game of tag with nearly 40 wheelchairs as well as a game of hide-and-seek ...With 110 boarding passes.

This was the first time some of these veterans had ever traveled on a commercial airplane, including Wellsville World War II veteran Allen Lott.

"I've always rode a ship or on a train," Lott said. "I've done a lot of walking. But that's it."

Going through security proved an adventure of its own. Some of these 80-and-90-year olds still have metal shrapnel in their bodies from the war, as well as artificial hips and prosthetic limbs. On the other end of security, firefighters volunteered to help the veterans put back on their shoes, suspenders and belts.

While most passenger might grumble at the hassle, the greatest generation was grateful.

"I'm pert near speechless," Lott said.

After all, these veterans waited more than 60 years to see their World War II memorial. On this day, they were on the threshold of an honor flight. As they took their seats, and the sun took to the sky, the veterans settled in for another mission.

The window to get these veterans to Washington, D.C., is closing. They are passing away at a rate of more than 1,000 per day nationwide.

As the veterans landed at the Baltimore Airport, they heard an unfamiliar sound coming up the jet way. One thought it was static on his hearing aide, but it turned out to be a grateful country coming through loud and clear, in the form of a 15-minute standing ovation.

"Unreal," was how veteran Gus Mayer described it. "I just couldn't believe it."

Another veteran, Richard Deters, said the reception made him feel young again.

'It took a lot of work...A lot of donations. It means a lot to us so we're anxious to actually see it," said Howard Colllins a WW II veteran.

"Kind of choked up a little bit," Collins said in describing his reaction to the applause.

One former soldier could only find one word to describe the feeling of getting off the bus after a 20-hour honor flight to that sort of audible appreciation: "awesome."

That's a word not usually in a 90-year-old's vocabulary.

Those wishing to welcome home World War II veterans from an honor flight can come to Columbia's Courtyard by Marriott near Grindstone and Highway 63 on Oct. 13 at approximately 11 pm.

To apply or volunteer for honor flight or for more information about Central MO Honor Flight, visit www.centralmissourihonorflight.com .