What is new for Northwoods Drifter in 2026
Donald Sleeter waited 80 years to stand before the statue that captured his generation’s defining moment.
At 100 years old, the Marshfield Marine veteran finally wheeled up to the Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington, D.C., that towering bronze tribute to Iwo Jima — the very battle that nearly took his life. He was just 17 when he hit those black volcanic beaches in 1945.
“I thought I knew all the answers, ya know?” Sleeter told reporters after his first glimpse of the memorial.
In 1943, Donald Sleeter was a high school kid in central Wisconsin with four buddies and a mission that felt simple at the time.
“There were five of us boys in high school and we wanted to help clean up the Japanese,” he recalled. “So, we all went in together.”
They enlisted in the Marine Corps as teenagers, part of that massive wave of 16 million Americans who served in World War II. For rural Wisconsin communities like Marshfield — population barely scraping 20,000 back then — every enlistment meant an empty desk at school, an anxious family at home, and a hometown holding its breath.
Sleeter never saw those four friends again. He doesn’t know if they made it home.
By early 1945, Sleeter had already served on Guam before his unit — the 3rd Marine Division — landed on Iwo Jima for one of the war’s bloodiest campaigns.
While the famous flag-raising happened atop Mount Suribachi with the 4th and 5th Divisions, Sleeter’s unit fought below in the volcanic ash and caves, securing the airfield that would save thousands of B-29 bomber crews.
“We were working the ground below, around the volcano to take over the airfield they had there,” Sleeter explained. “So that our planes could land there for fuel or emergencies. That’s what it was all about.”
“It’s about taking someone’s life and saving my own. Those kinds of things that you don’t like to talk about.”
The battle cost 6,800 American lives — nearly all Marines. Sleeter was wounded in action and earned a Purple Heart before his discharge in 1946. Some memories, he says, remain too heavy to revisit even now.
This spring, Sleeter joined the 55th Never Forgotten Honor Flight from Wisconsin to Washington, D.C. He was the only World War II veteran in a group filled mostly with Korean and Vietnam War vets.
That detail hits different when you realize fewer than 120,000 World War II veterans remain alive today, down from 16 million who served. The window to honor this generation shrinks by hundreds of veterans every single day.
Honor Flights started in 2005 specifically because most WWII vets never got to see their memorial — it didn’t open until 2004. Now, over 250,000 veterans have flown on these all-expenses-paid trips, many from rural communities across the Upper Midwest.
Central Wisconsin Honor Flight, which serves the Marshfield area and much of the Northwoods, completed several spring missions this year. Local VFW posts and American Legion halls across Wood, Price, and Oneida counties fundraise year-round to send veterans.
Wisconsin has roughly 300,000 veterans, with significant populations throughout the Northwoods region. These aren’t just statistics — they’re neighbors, volunteers at the fish fry, the guys who still show up to color guard at Memorial Day parades.
When someone like Donald Sleeter finally gets his moment at the memorial, it resonates across every VFW hall from Marshfield to Eagle River. It reminds younger generations what service looked like when small-town kids joined up together and didn’t all come home.
The coverage from WJFW brought Sleeter’s story to thousands of Northwoods households, the kind of local hero recognition that strengthens community bonds and supports veteran mental health initiatives in rural areas where isolation can be deadly.
Here’s what Honor Flight means for our region:
After a lifetime that included both Marine Corps service and a career in law enforcement, Sleeter found something unexpected on his Honor Flight: instant connection with veterans from different wars, different eras, different battles.
“I have never seen so many nice, nice people,” he said. “These veterans, they’ve all got a story to tell. You can try to understand them well without them saying too much.”
That’s the thing about veteran camaraderie in places like the Northwoods. You don’t need to explain everything. The guy at the American Legion hall who served in Korea gets what the Vietnam vet went through without asking. And Sleeter, at 100, understands them all.
“I know what things they were doing, too,” he added. “It’s the kind of camaraderie without having to explain everything.”
Sleeter called the experience “wonderful” and said simply: “Everybody should do it.”
For Northwoods families with aging veterans, the message is clear — the time to act is now. The Honor Flight Network prioritizes World War II, Korean War, and terminally ill veterans, but spots fill quickly and the waiting list grows longer as word spreads.
Donald Sleeter waited 80 years to see his memorial. He made it at 100 years old, wheelchair-bound but surrounded by fellow warriors who understood without words. Not every veteran gets that chance.
If you know a Northwoods vet who served before 1975, reach out to Central Wisconsin Honor Flight or your local VFW post. These flights aren’t just tourism — they’re the closure our heroes earned on beaches and hillsides most of us can’t imagine.
Sleeter’s proud of his service and proud of the Marine Corps. After everything he’s seen and carried, he’s finally stood before the monument that tells his generation’s story in bronze and stone. That’s worth the wait, even if it took a century.
Written by
Mike has been coming up or living in the Northwoods since his childhood. He is also an avid outdoorsman, writer and supper club aficionado.
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