Standing inside the circular, granite National World War II Monument in Washington, D.C. with a group of veterans from Albany, former public school teacher Fritz Dodge told war stories from his time as a nervous, 16-year-old boy in the service.

He was in good company. On this cool October day about 1,500 veterans came to the monument, many of them courtesy of Honor Flight Network, a non-profit organization that raises money to send veterans to D.C. to see the monuments in their honor. Some spoke in hushed tones, some cried, many laughed and joked. They stared out at the center fountain, and the markers depicting fighting in Europe and the Pacific.

They all had stories to tell. They flew missions, built roads, walked in winter forests, shot and fought. They were wounded, watched friends die, and stopped dictators from ruling the world.

As Honor Flight veterans, they travel to D.C. at no cost to them. It is a large shout-out "Thank You!" for their service to this country. Groups fly in from all over the country after elaborate motorcade sendoffs from their home airports.

Dodge arrived with Patriot Flight, Inc., an Albany contingent. As a merchant seaman, he worked as a hot shell man on a Navy ship in World War II. When his crewmates fired guns, the hot shells were spit out upon recoil. He was one of the men who had to catch the shells, wearing asbestos gloves that ran up to his shoulders.

"I missed the first seven but caught every one after that," he recalled, laughing, as he looked out over the fountain in the middle of the open monument. Each state has its name etched in the granite on a separate column.

He was 16 years old when he joined the war effort. He traveled to North Africa, Italy, France and Greenland.

Once, a German submarine sank an American ship behind his "three days this side of Gibraltar." After that, he said, "I slept with my life jacket on every night. They made fun of me. I didn't care. I was scared," he said. "That was close enough for me."

When he got out, he was 19, and didn't even have a high school diploma.

"I was let down after the war. I couldn't get a job," he said.

He took his GED, and thanks to the GI bill, was able to go to college. He became a public school teacher and with his wife, Esther, had five children. Later, he taught in the prison system.

"I love teaching," said Dodge. He taught at School 20 and School 19, both Albany elementary schools, and Holland Patent in Oneida County.

That love comes full circle, not just in the layout of the WWII monument, but in the grateful returns of New York's students and teachers, who are donating to Honor Flights to help send veterans to D.C.

Ron Lewis, president of Patriot Flight, Inc. in Albany, said a small elementary school in Troy raised $4,200 for the organization by selling candles. It costs about $350-$400 for each veteran to make the trip, which includes a visit to the WWII monument, Iowa Jima and Arlington Cemetery.

Veteran Jack Paterson was moved to tears at the sight of the monument and the weight of memory.

"I never expected to see this," he said gently, a smile moving his deeply-etched face. "It's very touching."

Paterson flew on Honor Flight Buffalo with his nephew, Bill Paterson, a retired Tonawanda Educators Association member, as his guardian.

Jack was one of four brothers (including his nephew Bill's father) who fought in WWII. His brother, Keith, died in the war when a Japanese submarine torpedoed his ship, cutting the ship in half.

"I was the last one in the family to see Keith," said Jack, trembling.

In the service, he was with troops in France, Belgium and Germany.

"The only reason I'm here today is because of God," said Jack. "When we went to the front line with the 106th Reconnaissance Troop, it was six days before the Battle of the Bulge," he said. "On Dec. 10 we occupied positions on the front line. Then they told me and five other guys we'd be moved to division headquarters to be bodyguards."

Hell broke loose after they left.

"On the morning of Dec. 16th the Germans came, and that was the first attack. Our positions were overrun in the first half hour. Out of 125 guys, about 10 of us survived," he said. Some spent the rest of the war in German prison camps, he said.

"Some were very close friends," Jack said.

He has kept in touch with one close friend from the service.

When he was out of the service, he married Betty, a nurse, and they had five daughters. He worked construction as a plumber and steam fitter, working on large-scale jobs such as the Alaskan pipeline and Cape Canaveral. He was a member of the Plumbers and Steam Fitters Local 129 in Niagara Falls.

"I'm a union man 100 percent!" he said.

Most of the veterans that day had a chance to meet and visit with Bob Dole, former U.S. Senator and chair of the National WWII Memorial, who regularly sits out front of the WWII monument to greet veterans.

Richard Waring, retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, was there to meet him. Warring wore the same brown leather jacket he wore in the service, when he navigated 42 missions in B-17 airplanes over Europe. The 88-year-old, who came with Honor Flight Buffalo, said he was "awed" by the monument that was built in 2004.

Army combat engineer William Belford built roads and fought the enemy in the South Pacific. He was burned badly when a B-24 crashed into a gasoline depot and he helped pull guys out of the plane.

As they headed back to their bus, many of them being wheeled in wheelchairs, they thanked Honor Flight Buffalo co-presidents Lisa and Jo-Anne Wylie, who are sisters. They volunteer in honor of their father, Sgt. Robert Wylie, a WWII veteran who never got to see the monument. Wylie, a flight attendant, has also flown to nearly every place her father served in the war: North Africa, the Middle East, Casablanca, Tripoli Milan and Tunisia.

For more information, visit www.honorflight.org.