Recruited by son Gerald: Berne Davis among honor vets aboard flight to war memorials

Berne Davis, a Colfax High grad from the depression years who wound up driving a tank in Europe during World War II, was among a group of 34 veterans aboard the Southwest Airlines honor flight which departed Spokane Oct. 3 for a trip to the nation’s capital.

Davis, who now makes his home at the Courtyard in Colfax, was accompanied by his son, Gerald Davis, who talked his dad into making the trip.

The Inland Northwest Chapter of Honor Flight aims to book five trips this year as part of a national program to allow World War II veterans to see the new memorial which was built to honor them.

Berne Davis, now 94, was a little reluctant to make the trip, but his son talked him into participating, and he managed to keep pace with the program.

“He kept up just fine,” Gerald Davis reported. Berne is now in a wheelchair, and Gerald had to provide the power for their tour day last Thursday.

Neither father nor son had ever been to the nation’s capital.

Both credited members of Honor Flight with handling all the details of the program, and Gerald Davis noted the veterans group received special treatment everywhere they went on the three-day adventure.

After traveling to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, the area vets made a full-scale tour of the World War II memorial. The tour included Arlington Cemetery and other service memorials.

“I just wanted to see it. It’s really nice; too much to see in a short time, but it’s better than never seeing it,” Berne commented at the memorial. His comments at the scene were relayed to the Gazette by Megan Mitchell, a freelance journalist.

The son of Bert and Zadie Davis, Berne entered the service in February of 1942, three months after Pearl Harbor, and underwent training in Indio, Calif.

He became an M-10 tank driver. His unit, the 773rd Tank Battalion, shipped out for England in the spring of 1944 before the invasion of France.

The tank unit landed on Omaha Beach about a month after invasion day, as soon as it was able to accept tanks to support the invasion.

Berne was part of the campaign across France, and his battalion eventually met up with General George Patton’s forces. They continued across Belgium and into Germany where the campaign ended with Germany’s surrender.

Berne received his discharge in October of 1945 and returned to the farm at Union Center where his dad was ready to get him started in farming. Also waiting was his wife, Betty.

They farmed and raised three sons, Gerald and Robert, also of Colfax, and Donald, Walla Walla. Berne has six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.