WASHINGTON — Eight hours after he got off an Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C., a World War II veteran died in his Montana home.
The trip fulfilled a lifelong dream for Donald Buska who wanted to visit the nation’s capital and see the World War II Memorial, according to the Billings Gazette.
A Navy veteran, the 86-year-old passed away on Tuesday after the return trip with the Big Sky Honor Flight of Montana, the Gazette reports.
“He had the time of his life,” Buska’s son Jeff tells the paper.
Buska suffered from a lung condition that made it difficult to breath and was under hospice care.
WWII veterans and the honor flights became the face of the government shutdown last fall, which shuttered the memorials along the National Mall.
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