Joseph “Billy” Garner, Fairhope’s current Veteran of the Year, had a long but memorable day Wednesday.

Early that morning, he flew from Mobile to Washington, D.C., with some 80 other veterans from South Alabama. After a whirlwind tour of the World War II Memorial, Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln, Korean War, Vietnam War and Iwo Jima memorials, the group of veterans returned home the same day.

Also on the Honor Flight – a charitable enterprise that takes veterans on this memorable journey to the nation’s capital aboard a chartered airplane – was Gov. Bob Riley, who served as one of about 40 “guardians” who accompanied the veterans. Many of the honored individuals were veterans from World War II, who traveled in wheel chairs as they toured the memorials with their guardians.

“The trip was fantastic,” Garner said Thursday morning. “It was so well organized and everything we needed, Dr. Barry Booth (who organized the trip) got it for us. I would recommend it to any veteran. It was awesome. That’s the word for it.”

Garner traveled with his granddaughter and guardian for the trip, Candace Antinarella, Fairhope’s assistant city clerk.

“It was an absolutely amazing and emotional trip,” Antinerella said by e-mail just before midnight Wednesday at the end of a day that started at about 4 a.m. “I was truly honored and blessed to be able to share the day with my grandfather and all of the veterans to see their memorials.”

Garner, 83, was named Fairhope Veteran of the Year last October in a ceremony before the City Council.

He said the Honor Flight this week was an emotional trip for him but also served to unite the veterans and gave them a chance to reflect on their experiences and service to the country.

“The trip meant so much to me,” Garner said. “There was so much history we saw. And when we saw the graves at Arlington Cemetery – so many graves – oh, I broke down and cried.”

Garner joined the U.S. Navy in 1945 when he was 17 and served aboard the USS Neville and the USS Livermore in the South Pacific, which brought some of the first U.S. occupational troops into Japan after its surrender.

After his discharge from the military, Garner returned to Fairhope to finish high school and then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Troy State and Auburn universities.

He served as a science and math teacher for 11 years in Fairhope and vicinity and during that time helped establish the city’s first league football program, as well as coaching football and basketball. He opened an insurance company in 1963 Fairhope, with which he is still involved.

“Mr. Garner is an excellent choice,” Kant said at the October 2009 award ceremony. “As a member of the Greatest Generation, he served his country with honor during the war. After the war, he returned to Fairhope to finish his education and later to raise his family and, to this day, he has taken an active role in his community.”