Viktor Krumm gave up a lot to defend his native country during World War II. This Christmas, he's going to get something back.
When Krumm was standing on the verge of adulthood in his native Odessa, Soviet Union, he volunteered for battle during World War II. While a lot of youths his age were dealing with schoolwork and jobs and first loves, he lay in a hospital, seriously and permanently disabled.And when he was well enough to be sent home, he found that his entire family - mother, father and brother - had been killed during Adolf Hitler's army's occupation of Odessa.
Across the span of five decades, Krumm has been awarded a medal of honor by the Russian government. The award was sent to mark the 50th anniversary of the defeat of the Germans. But it is an award that must be picked up in person at the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. And that kind of trip has been beyond the budget of Krumm and his wife, who are both refugees.
Last week, Krumm learned that his wish will come true. He is one of 25 senior citizens who will go "Home for the Holidays," courtesy of Southwest Airlines' annual program by that name. Winners were selected by Salt Lake County Aging Services and the airline based on their "demonstrated economic need and significant reasons for travel."
Most of the senior citizens will make journeys to visit relatives they haven't seen in a long time. A few will visit old friends. The program provides free airfare, and the senior citizens are responsible for the other costs of travel.
Wilma Bugger's trip will be an emotional one.
She, too, is going to Washington, D.C. Since the Vietnam Memorial Wall was built, she has longed to visit it, to see the inscription bearing the name of her son, who died in the war.
More than 65 years have elapsed since Philip Ortiz spent Christmas with his brothers and sister in New Mexico. He is now 87.
Each senior citizen applied for the trip, explaining where he or she wanted to go and why. A list of the requests triggered emotional responses.
"I am an artist whose eyesight has been failing since I broke my neck in February 1991," wrote John M. Whitaker, who will journey to Studio City, Calif. "I would like to visit sunny California and my nephew Mark. I have not seen him in approximately five years. It would be nice to show him some of my paintings."
Guy G. Lemmon has Parkinson's disease. He plans to return to Houston for a visit with his brother in their old stomping ground.
Several of the travelers are racing the clock to visit loved ones who are ill. Leonid Branzburg, a refugee from the Ukraine, has a sister in Chicago who is very sick with cancer. They haven't seen each other in more than 15 years. Fern Royer's brother - who at age 85 is her only living sibling - has been diagnosed with stomach cancer. When she reaches Glendale, Calif., she'll also see her nieces for the first time in 25 years.
Vera Huffman's brother has a pacemaker and is losing his vision. Huffman had hoped to drive to San Diego for a reunion, but her own medical problems prevented it. Dorothy Forrester's sister, who is 94, has Alzheimer's. Forrester believes a trip to Fulton, Ky., will be her last chance to visit her.
Clara Holman hasn't seen her grandchildren in five years. Myrtle Holling- worth wants to see her son. Semen Gerchirov and his sister haven't been together for 15 years.
Myrl Despain's family plans to throw a reunion when she arrives in Texas.
Yelena Rasabyan and Sofya Semenova, both exiled from Azerbaijan, will travel to Chicago to rejoin, however briefly, a couple with whom they worked and played for 20 years in the old country.
Lucy Ortero's husband died this year. The final Utah senior citizen going home for the holidays, she'll fly into Pittsburgh to see her daughter and grandchildren, from whom she has been separated for four years.
The destinations and reasons driving them are different. But they're all journeys of the heart.