Wish Comes True for 100-Year-Old Veteran

Monday, July 7, 2025

As reported by the Wisconsin State Journal

Compared with 100 years, 15 minutes is no time at all. But for two Madison-area World War II veterans, 15 minutes on Tuesday meant the world.

Preflight, U.S. Marine veteran Henry “Hank” Long and U.S. Army veteran Lew Harned shook hands, exchanging brief biographies lives and memories from the warthey have in common.
This was Long’s second Dream Flight and Harned’s third, so when the two aged warriors were wheeled into the hangar Tuesday, their expectations were cut and dried— a short safety discussion with the Dream Flights crew and their families, followed by two 15-minute flights over Dane County.

Dream Flights is a nonprofit that takes U.S. veterans on brief excursions in Boeing Stearman biplanes, which were used for training in World War II. Eligible veterans can only take one flight until they turn 100, at which point they can have one flight per year.

But on Tuesday, there was an added surprise: Prior to their flight, the two veterans were greeted by the Middleton Cross Plains American Legion, flags raised and guns shouldered, along with an American flag display from the Middleton Fire Department.

Long’s daughter Star Pfiffer was one of the main hands orchestrating the surprise.

Long’s flight Tuesday had been on the books since his first Dream Flight, when he met and befriended pilot Scooter DeLong about four years ago. So, when Long hit triple digits in May, he was ready for takeoff.

But given how close the flight was to her father’s birthday, Pfiffer said, she wanted to make it special.

“My dad has kept in touch with Scott all these years. They telephone back and forth. Scott checks on my dad,” she said. “He’s been waiting for this, he keeps saying, ‘Did you hear from Scott? Have you heard anything?’”

Fewer than 1% of the 16.4 million Americans who served in the second world war are still alive, about 66,000 of them, according to the National World War II Museum. Some, like Long, live in assisted living facilities. And employees with these facilities try to do their part to honor the legacies of these residents as well, which is how Tuesday’s ceremony came together.

For weeks, Agrace Hospice patient wish coordinator Lisa Dahlgren has been in touch with Pfiffner about Long, his Dream Flight and his birthday. Dahlgren led the charge to coordinate, contacting numerous local veterans communities and organizations. The response, as witnessed Tuesday, was exactly what she’d hoped for.

“It’s such a strong community of veterans that want to honor our World War II veterans,” Dahlgren said.

Long was a sergeant in the Marine Corps, serving in the Pacific from October 1943 to July 1947. After an enemy bayonet put him in the hospital, he became a pilot.

Overcome with emotion on Tuesday, words did not come easily for him, but his daughter shared pride and gratitude on his behalf.

“(Dad) is pretty emotional. He’s an emotional guy to begin with,” Pfiffer said. “A lot of these veterans don’t expect this honor because the people that they fought with who aren’t here anymore, they believe they’re the ones who deserve the honors.”

Long was first to take flight Tuesday, carefully hoisted into his seat in the open cockpit of the Spirit of Wisconsin, a World War II-era biplane, the likes of which would have been used for training purposes back when Long and Harned first donned their uniforms.

And as the little yellow plane took wing, Long waved happily to the crowd, smiling with his thumbs up. Among those on solid ground, Harned cheered on his fellow member of the Greatest Generation, gazing into the clear blue day, marred only by occasional light refractions in the 90-degree heat.