Helping the 'greatest generation'

Rosenking, a licensed pilot and a member of the U.S. Civil Air Patrol — a civilian auxiliary of the Air Force — discovered Honor Flight through an Internet search. After perusing its website, he called the organization, asking how he could help.

He began as a greeter, seeing the veterans off in the morning and welcoming them back when they returned. After a year, he decided he needed to experience the trip himself. In addition to volunteering, he is now a member of the Long Island chapter’s board of directors.

The biggest thrill for him, he said, is taking the trip with veterans who are often overwhelmed by the day’s events. “They were asked to fight and defend against two professional armies, and save the world,” Rosenking said. “And they did. That is such a moving thing for me.

“I don’t know any other way I would get to help a member of the ‘greatest generation,’” he continued. “How can you do that? I don’t know that there’s many opportunities … this is one.”

Armand Tarantelli, who has lived in Hicksville since 1953, also took the Honor Flight trip at the urging of Rosenking. Tarantelli taught industrial arts at Division High School in Levittown for 31 years until he retired in 1982, and Rosenking was one of his students.

Tarantelli, 88, who trained in the 14th Armored Division in Fort Knox, Ky., spent time in Scotland, France and Germany, and was a member of the Military Police Corps. Two moments in his military life stand out, he said: a celebratory march in San Francisco shortly after the war’s end, and his Honor Flight trip. “It was one of the most patriotic renditions of my life after many, many years,” Tarantelli said. “It’s more then seeing the memorial. It’s the patriotism of all the visitors. People [from] all over the world looking at these memorials … and it makes your heart feel good. It’s a tremendous uplift for a veteran.”