A World War II veteran got to take a trip down memory lane Saturday.
Robin Greer says her step-father 89-year old Retired Staff Sergeant Richard Barker, read an article about the Yankee Air Museum in Ypsilanti offering flights on a C47 Skytrain Transport Plane.
Barker recently had some health complications and Greer thought this would be just what he needed.
"He got his heart valve surgery. I talked to his heart valve surgeon, they said he’d be flight worthy so a little ticket to fly turned into, wait a minute let's get the whole plane and get the whole family," Greer says.
She didn’t realize it would fall on National Armed Forces Day.
Four generations surprised Barker and flew with him on the plane.
The American Legion and a 2-star general recognized Barker for serving as a Radio Controller.
"My husband God bless him he's a wonderful man. He deserves the recognition as well as all the other veterans, but like my daughter said better to do it now than when he's gone," Roseann Barker’s wife says.
Barker said he enjoyed the flight and that it brought back a lot of memories.
"It's a big surprise, it doesn't happen all the time,” he says.
Barker wants to go skydiving next.
