Fundraiser celebrates area veterans

EPHRATA — It was an emotional night for a group of veterans and their families as they gathered on Saturday to raise money to help other aging veterans visit the country’s war memorials in the national capital.

“The whole thing was very emotional,” said Alan Hattrup, an 86-year-old veteran. “I saw all the memorials... The Korean War memorial is quite moving, and moves me more than any of the others.”

Hattrup, who was drafted in 1952, never saw combat, not finishing his radio repair school until after the armistice was signed in Korea in July, 1953.

“The homecoming meant more to me,” he said. “When we arrived back in Spokane, there was a band there and all kinds of people, and that was very emotional.”

Hattrup was one of many people to gather at the American Legion Hall in Ephrata on Saturday for a fundraising all-you-can-eat taco and nacho dinner along with a dessert auction. All to raise money for Pacific Northwest Honor Flights, which sends aging veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit the country’s war memorials.

Some of this fundraiser continues the work of 18-year-old Justin Peterson, who started raising money for to help veterans as part of a school project when he was nine years old.

“I heard about honor flight, so I decided to raise $600. That was the cost back then to send one veteran. The first organization I went to gave me the whole $600,” Peterson said. “So I went to the Legion, and they said ‘we’ll give you the hall…’”

“It just snowballed,” he added. ‘It’s been a really cool experience, I’ve met a lot of really neat vets, and heard neat stories.”

Autumn McHugo baked a number of things — including a banana-split cake, several key lime pies, and bags of caramel toffee bars — to sell at the auction.

“I’m proud to be an American, and I’m proud of our vets, and we do whatever it takes to support them,” she said. “It’s something that’s very important to us as a family.”