FITCHBURG — Two veterans are being recognized in the city this weekend at a Dream Flights event that is part of the nonprofit’s national tour honoring nearly 800 senior veterans this year.
Vietnam veteran Jack Beutler spent four years serving aboard three U.S. Navy ships and on Saturday, July 25 the 75-year-old Baldwinville resident will trade the deck of a ship for the open cockpit of a restored World War II-era Stearman Aircraft biplane, according to a press release.
Dream Flights will honor Beutler and a fellow veteran — name and military details pending — with free flights at Fitchburg Municipal Airport on Crawford Street. Since 2011, the Carson City, Nev.-based nonprofit organization has honored more than 8,000 senior veterans nationwide with free flights aboard its fleet of restored Stearman planes.
“Honoring Vietnam veterans like Jack means a lot to us,” said Dream Flights volunteer and spokesperson Wendy D’Alessandro. “Too many came home without the welcome they deserved. A Dream Flight is our way of saying thank you, we remember, and we’re grateful.”
The first flight will take off at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning and the event will offer visuals and interviews, including the veterans boarding the vintage aircraft, open-cockpit takeoffs and landings, families and caregivers cheering from the tarmac, and post-flight celebrations. The volunteer pilot taking the veterans up is retired U.S. Air Force pilot Jeff Klosky and while the community is welcome to come and watch, flights are specifically for preselected veterans from Alliance Health Management Services.
The press release said that Beutler, a resident of Alliance Health Management Services, volunteered for the Navy in 1969 and served as a boatswain’s mate. He helped steer ships, manage speed, drop anchors, stand lookout, and assist with maintenance.
During the Vietnam War, he traveled through Da Nang before joining the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La and spent approximately nine months supporting operations in Vietnam before later serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy and the destroyer USS Fox.
“It means a lot to me that we are being recognized, and I love the chance to fly,” Beutler said of his fellow veterans and what he’s looking forward to.
Dream Flights has a fleet of eight restored vintage biplanes. Its volunteer pilots travel the country honoring veterans living in senior communities with free Dream Flights, which are always free to veterans and their families, thanks to generous partners, including Sport Clips Haircuts, American Airlines, Veterans United Home Loans, and others.
The Veterans United plane, which will be used to honor Beutler and the fellow veteran at Saturday’s event, is a restored 1942 Stearman biplane once used by the Navy to train military pilots. Donated to Dream Flights in 2019 and restored to airworthiness, it made its first Dream Flight two years later during Operation September Freedom, a 61-day national tour honoring 891 World War II veterans in 47 states.
For more information visit dreamflights.org.
Wendy D’Alessandro contributed to this story
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