Bill Tobbe and his grandson are pictured on their recent Washington, D.C. trip courtesy of Honor Flight Network. Submitted photo

Mayville resident and veteran Bill Tobbe recently took part in a trip that he will never forget.

Tobbe recently turned 90 years old and has been involved with the Vets Finding Vets program. Through this, he was able to take part in the Honor Flight program that included a free trip to Washington, D.C. with his grandson, as well as several other veterans.

Tobbe said it was the experience of a lifetime, particularly how they were greeted when embarking and returning.

“It just really blew me away,” Tobbe said. “Everybody stood up and saluted and cheered. You hear so much about how divided this country is, it sure didn’t look that way to me. There was a bunch of people — young people, old people, Black and white, everybody and they were all cheering for us.”

He said the group was able to visit several monuments, but he particularly enjoyed the visit to Arlington National Cemetery and a memorial they visited that honored women who were in the military services. However, he said the monuments were “all so impressive.”

Tobbe currently lives in Mayville but grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. After high school, he attended John Carroll University in Cleveland. His family had a summer home in Chautauqua County for quite some time and decided to stay for good about 15 years ago.

The 90-year-old said Chautauqua County is beautiful, and he particularly enjoys his home on the lake when his kids and grandkids come to visit.

Tobbe joined the military in 1955. He was drafted after college, and was given an order to go to Germany. He served in the military police during that time. He said his time there was fairly pleasant.

At the time, Germany was divided into East and West Germany. Tobbe was stationed in West Germany. He said he didn’t see much of the Soviet side of Germany, as he had heard stories of people not getting back through the checkpoints. He was also stationed mostly in the southern portion of Germany near Munich.

He said he had learned a little German during his time there, but wished he could have learned more.

“G.I. German, they called it,” he said.

One of his fondest memories of his two-year service was when he visited Spain to be the best man at his friend’s wedding. His friend married a Spanish woman, but she didn’t speak much English and his friend did not speak much Spanish. The couple, despite the language barrier, had a beautiful marriage, Tobbe said.

“We didn’t speak Spanish, but it didn’t seem to matter,” he said. “And we got there late because we got lost sort of wandering around France. There were no big highways or GPS. There were road signs, and they would say what the next village was.”

Tobbe said he doesn’t have any war stories, as he was not on active duty during a war.

“That’s kind of what it comes to — once you join, you’re in — you go where you’re told,” he said. “There were a lot of guys on the honor flight that never saw combat, but that’s the luck of the draw. The point is: you’re there and you’re there to do what you’re told. I was very fortunate.”