Mike Buff

Three Lehigh Acres Rotarians were among a large group of other members of the Rotary in Southwest Florida who accompanied 55 veterans of World War II to Washington, D.C. this past Saturday.

Mike Buff, Dr. Randy Mooty and John Goodlad, all members of the Rotary Club of Lehigh Acres, were at the airport Saturday morning shortly after 7 to take an Air Tran flight to Washington.

“The Rotary clubs of our area, which is District 6960, sponsored the trip. We as Rotarians were guardians that went along to assist many of the veterans who are elderly,” Buff said.

“Things went well. The veterans were able to see the World War II Memorial and we also went to Arlington Cemetery to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” Buff said.

“We saw all we could, but time didn’t allow us to see all of the sights but it was very gratifying for our Rotarians to be able to do this. It is the first time that our Rotary district has sponsored such an event,” Buff said.

“We had one Rotarian guardian for each of the 55 veterans who were able to go,” he said.

They returned to Southwest Regional International Airport Saturday night after 9:30 p.m.

“It was a great trip. A lot of the vets are tired, but we took our time when we accompanied them to some of the sites that many of them had never seen,” Buff said.

“It was a great honor for me and the other Lehigh Rotarians to be able to do something like this.”

The Rotary Club of Lehigh has participated in several activities, doing things from handing out free dictionaries to local students and hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners free to the public in Lehigh. The club is composed of some 30 to 40 members and meet weekly in Lehigh.