Coraopolis businessman Jim Hilts already has people signed up for his next WWII veterans' bus trip, which he plans to run in June. Interested vets and volunteers can learn more by visiting the effort's new Web site, www.pittsburghveterans.com, or by calling him at 412-269-6180.

Mr. Hilts is forming a board and wants to seek more corporate sponsors. But what he'd really like is for other area communities to start their own programs before it's too late.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that out of the 16.1 million Americans who served in WWII, only 3,242,000 were still alive on Sept. 30. By that date next year, only 2,889,000 are expected to remain, meaning they are dying at a rate of 967 per day.

Mr. Hilts points to towns such as Henderson, S.C., which made national news earlier this fall by sending 210 vets to Washington. "Hopefully people in other parts of the region will want to do the same for their vets."

He recently heard from a Mount Washington woman wanting to run a trip for vets at her church. He suggested she contact Dan Cavanaugh, who helped with the first trip, and will organize a spring trip from the South Hills.

Meanwhile, Mr. Cavanaugh also is collecting oral histories from as many veterans as possible, to submit, as he wants to do with one on his late father, to the Smithsonian Institution. His phone number is: 412-334-2044.

For more on the memorial, visit www.wwiimemorial.com.