FREDERICKTOWN — “This is about saying thank you,” Mark Armstrong said Saturday morning before a day of fishing at Knox Lake. While Armstrong, founder of America’s Freedom Lodge, and about 30 other volunteers waited to welcome a group of disabled World War II veterans, Armstrong explained the mission to which the lodge members have dedicated themselves.

“When you have a gift someone’s given to you, and by gift I mean freedom, we owe somebody a thank you,” Armstrong said. “These are the guys that stepped up and answered the call when we needed help.”

America’s Freedom Lodge is a faith-based, nonpartisan, nonprofit group of volunteers which regularly gives disabled veterans the opportunity to enjoy nature and outdoor experiences that many veterans have had to give up due to health problems, disability or age.

Saturday’s fishing trip was planned using pontoon boats which were accessible to the veterans, some of whom are in wheelchairs. The volunteers prepared every detail of the trip, from providing all of the tackle, equipment and boats, to paying for the licenses. Volunteers helped the four veterans, most of whom were in their 80s, onto the boat.

The three-year-old organization has been serving veterans in Knox and Licking counties for about three years, according to Armstrong. It welcomes veterans from every branch of the service, active-duty or not. The veterans who went on the trip Saturday were from an adult day program at the Gerlach Center at Riverside Hospital in Columbus.

“He’s really excited,” Amy Kuhlman of Columbus said of her father, Dudley, 81, who had not been fishing for years. “He just doesn’t get the opportunity to get out that much.”

Accessibility issues were not a problem as strong-backed volunteers lifted wheelchairs on and off boats, and poles were adjusted to make the fishing comfortable for each of the veterans.

Lou VonVille of Columbus, who went on the trip with his wife of 61 years, Mary, said he used to fish regularly in Florida, but has not been able to get out to fish in years.

Lodge volunteer Dick Gorny, a Bladensburg-area resident who is a Marine Corps veteran, helped VonVille get started with poles and tackle which had been acquired by the group with the help of Bass Pro Shops. The company regularly donates to the group and assists with activities.

VonVille told the group he had been wounded by mortar in World War II just two days after crossing the Rhine River on a pontoon boat carrying tanks. He spent most of his two years in the service in hospitals overseas and in the United States.

Lou and Mary talked throughout the day of fishing with another veteran, 92-year-old Ed Costello, who brought his friend, Marsha Trimmer, along.

By mid-trip, the boat’s occupants were joking with each other like old friends, and as Costello and VonVille each were getting bites, others cheered.

Armstrong explained the fellowship of the events is an imprint part of the group’s success. Taking veterans who no longer are able to regularly get out on deer or turkey hunts, or fishing, gives them the opportunity to enjoy the company of other veterans and their families.

Costello, who was shot down in a B-17 and then held as a POW in Germany for two years, grinned as he reeled in a catfish with assistance from lodge volunteer Derek Miller of Martinsburg.

“I can’t believe this is Ohio,” Costello said. “It’s like Minnesota or Michigan.”

Lou VonVille and Gorny joked with each other as VonVille pulled in a bass and a catfish. Both said they were happy someone had offered to take them for such an enjoyable trip.

Gorny said the volunteers are sometimes very inventive when it comes to making deer blinds or boats accessible to the disabled veterans.

“It can be pretty involved; whereever we’re going, access is everything,” he said.

Shearer Equipment in Mount Vernon regularly loans the group ATVs to help it take veterans with mobility problems to hunting areas.

Armstrong said the group plans several trips a year, and hopes to build a lodge building on 40 acres he and his wife, Sally, own on the Licking and Knox County border, and have set aside for the purpose. The lodge will have a lake for fishing, and hunting areas. Veterans and their families will be able to stay at the lodge for a week of rest and fellowship throughout the year.

When Jim Stamper of Mount Vernon was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the lodge worked to provide a Florida fishing trip when it became clear Stamper would not live long.

His wife, Barb, remembers the thrill Stamper experienced when he was surprised with the news he would be going to Florida to enjoy a bass fishing trip just weeks before he died.

“They just made that a last trip of a lifetime for him,” she said. The group surprised Jim with a shopping trip provided by the new Bass Pro Shop in Orlando, where he was able to pick out new equipment.

“We knew he had a good time, but we didn’t know what an input it had until we went to the funeral home,” Armstrong said. Pictures from the trip were displayed at the calling hours. Jim’s smile told the story in each photo.

“They are wonderful, just wonderful,” Barb said. “I’m just hoping they can keep it happening for other vets. They made such a difference and do such wonderful work.”

Phyllis Biegler, whose husband Ed, a Vietnam vet, went on a deer hunting trip with the group last fall shortly before he passed away, said the trips are life-changing for the vets.

Armstrong said the group will continue to work to provide memorable trips and enjoyment for as many veterans as possible.

Having never served in the military, Armstrong said the idea for the lodge was a seed planted in him years ago.

“It was just something that I felt led by God to do,” he explained. “He just laid it on my heart one day and I’ve been sharing it with others. It’s been step by step.”

Those steps have been about giving honor and gratitude to people who have sacrificed a lot for their country.

“A lot of them have not gotten a proper thank you; they have been forgotten, and that is unacceptable,” Armstrong said.