Las Cruces 96-year-old WWII veteran embarks on ‘dream flight’


LAS CRUCES, N.M. – At 96 years old, WWII veteran John Bloom embarked on a flight of a lifetime over his home of Las Cruces.

"It's been overwhelming," said the United States Army Air Corps veteran after landing. "I feel undeserving."

On Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., Bloom took off from the Las Cruces International Airport and saw his home from the skies. The flight was made possible by Dream Flights, a nonprofit that has served more than 4,200 veterans and seniors in long-term care communities over the course of a decade.

Bloom sat in the cockpit of a Boeing Stearman biplane, flying for about half an hour at a 1,500 foot altitude. He said he saw Organ Mountain High School, the Rio Grande and the Good Samaritan Society - Las Cruces Village, where he currently lives.

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