FORT MYERS, Fla. — Monday morning when Walter Dugan and Bernie Lenhart woke up they knew what they would be doing for the day.
“We wouldn’t have missed this if we had anything to do with it,” said Dugan.
The two came back to the U.S. on the same ship following the end of WWII.
“We didn’t know each other then, but now we are almost always together,” said Lenhart.
On Monday at the Fort Myers Memorial Gardens ‘Memorial Day’ ceremony, the two were sitting in the front row.
“We have a hard time walking or moving around so the front row is best for us,” said Dugan.
Dugan and Lenhart both served in the United States Marine Corp.
They told NBC2 that they made it out luckily, but not all of their friends in the war did.
“No they didn’t. We lost a lot of men. I lost a lot of men. That’s why I’m here,” said Dugan.
Rose Saulsby was at the ceremony Monday, but was in the middle of visiting her late husband when the event started.
“I come out here almost daily and I was absolutely ecstatic to see this many people show up today. It makes me very happy,” said Saulsby.
Saulsby’s late husband was a Vietnam veteran who served 22 years in the United States Air Force.
“He was a super trooper. A super soldier,” said Saulsby.
Several hundred people attended the ceremony for Memorial Day.
