Washington County, WI – On Saturday, May 18, 2024, 83-year-old Marine veteran Maureen Hornung of Jackson, WI, will join 13 other Washington County, WI vets on the Stars & Stripes Honor Flight to Washington D.C.
Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, Inc. honors veterans with a life-changing trip to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials and experience a day of honor and thanks.
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Hornung served in the Marines from 1958 to 1959 as a clerk typist. She enlisted in the Marines over any other branch of service because she liked their uniforms. “I thought they looked much nicer. The dress blues are very sharp.”
“I enlisted out of Galesburg, IL, where I lived,” said Hornung, “I was the first woman Marine to enlist out of Galesburg, IL. I’m originally from the UP.”
Hornung was sent to Parris Island, SC for female boot camp. “We had to follow the diet they put up on the bulletin board for us. That old WWI song “One Meatball” well, that’s about it. You had to know what was on the menu for that meal. If you took more than what was noted. the sergeant came by. She said nothing, but you knew that two crackers was all you had better take. If you took four, you better put two back.” Hornung paused a long time and then chuckled at her wit, “I think I was the cracker person.”
“When we would march at close order, there was a bleached blonde from Minnesota who seemed to always know how to march off my shoe. She would step on the back of it and it would come off. So I’d be hopping,” said Hornung, “The sergeant would yell at her ‘Don’t you know how to walk?’ and I’d have to hop out to put my shoe back on.”
Hornung took four weeks of classes at Office Procedure School on the same base following basic training. It was Hornung’s first opportunity to go on ‘liberty’ or off the base for some R&R. “We would go to the movies of just go to the ‘slop shoot’ on base – the bar. We did get to the ocean once.”
After completing her training, Hornung was stationed at Camp Le Jeune in North Carolina where she joined the base Glee Club. The Club was scheduled to be on the May 1959 Ed Sullivan Armed Forces Day Show but her commanding officer had a heart attack and that ended the opportunity.
Hornung worked in the Women Marine’s Office which was below the women’s barracks. “I took care of service record books and whatever they needed us to do. I worked in the office of Major Bell in Battalion,” said Hornung.
Following her stint at Camp LeJeune, Hornung was transferred to Washington, D.C. to work on correspondence courses. “As I was working we got a call and were ordered out to the street to make a crowd for the motorcade of President Eisenhower and Premier Khrushchev from Russia.”
Hornung has three sons: Jamie of West Bend, Jon of Jackson, and Jeff of Silver Spring MD. She has eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Accompanying Hornung on the Honor Flight will be volunteer Cindy Latter.
In her free time, Hornung’s happy place is the study of genealogy. “I was inspired since I saw the movie ‘Roots.’ I have a very strong interest in history.”
Hornung also enjoys quilting which she said she’d like to do ‘a little more of.’ “I write a lot,” said Horning, “Poetry, stories, whatever. I’ve got a little book of patriotic Americana poems. I used to write a lot more.”
Hornung has been instrumental in forming the Kettle Moraine Marine Corps League 1203 as well as the North Shore Marine Corps League Detachment 1289 in Cedarburg where she is member.
Some notches Hornung can add to her belt: She was the Badgers Detachment Chaplain and adjutant in Greenfield for 9 years, the State chaplain for 2 years. and the Chaplain and adjutant at NorthShore Detachment for 3. She was the state secretary for the Women Marines Association and, early on in her career, the commander of the AmVets in Galesburg. “I am in the Women and Military Service Memorial at Arlington. I’m one of the charter members,” said Hornung.
Following her military career, Hornung worked at radio station WTKM in Hartford, WI. “I’m in the Polka Hall of Fame,” said Hornung. She then went on to various other job positions utilizing her secretarial skills.
Hornung is looking forward to seeing how things have changed in DC since she visited many years ago. She thinks she will be missing cherry blossom season but has witnessed it in the past. “As far as I know, I’m the only woman going on the Honor Flight from Washington County,” said Hornung.
Stars and Stripes Honor Flight is the Milwaukee area hub of the Honor Flight Network. Founded in 2008, Stars and Stripes Honor Flight has flown more than 7,600 WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans from southeastern Wisconsin on a one-day, all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C.
Maureen has been a great friend for a number of years. She is an amazing woman! It’s an honor for me to call her a friend! She has done so many things to be proud of. She is a true go getter and accomplished woman. I am so happy she is able to make this flight. I also wish to thank Cindy Latter her guardian companion .. also my friend . Cindy has spent many hours training for this trip and a whole day with the flight .