Our World War ii vets are dying at the rate of about 12-hundred of them die each day.
Today we found out how you can remember their service by honoring them in the final years of their lives.

The purple heart, the prisoner of war medal, these are just some of the medals that Morris Magnuson received for his time during World War II and now 64 years later he's headed to Washington D-C to view a memorial in his honor.

"In my fighter squadron there were about 40 pilots assigned to that and about half didn't come back." Retired Lieutenant Colonel Morris Magnuson flew 80 missions during World War II and on his last one he was shot down and captured by German soldiers. "Many of them were killed in action and those are the ones I really think about often and grieve for them."

Honor Flight South Dakota is also thinking about them. The group is on a mission to take the states World War II veterans to National World War II Memorial built in 2004. Rick Tupper is with the group. "Times not our friend, everyones getting older, we need to get this off the ground literally and get them out to D.C." 
 
There are about 8-thousand World War II veterans like Morris in South Dakota and you can help them get to Washington by filing out a form like this one and helping out their organization. Rick Tupper tells us this is a way to say 'thank you' to those who gave so much. "So what we're asking the community is to step forward and support this by donating money to the project."

It means a lot to Morris Magnuson as well. "The World War II memorial in Washington really has a lot of meaning especially for those who are left."

Many of us may not have been alive during WWII but now decades later we have a chance to be apart of this 87 year old pilot's very important mission.

Honor flight  plans to charter four jets this year at no charge to the veterans. Each flight will cost about 150 thousand.