Detroit Free Press Joel Thurtell column: A Silver Star gleams in Northville.(Honor Flight, a charity to pay for a war veteran's visit to the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.)(Column)

Byline: Joel Thurtell

Mar. 11--A few minutes of hanging out in Bill Asher's Citgo gas station taught 13-year-old Graham Ambrose more about war than all those World War II video games the boy plays in his Northville Township home.

Graham and his mom, Kathy Peltier, came to the gas station because they had cooked up a project for Graham's eighth-grade confirmation class at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Northville: Graham plans to set up big, clear plastic jugs in Northville stores to collect change. His goal is to raise $200 -- enough to pay for one World War II veteran from Michigan to visit the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., courtesy of an organization called Honor Flight.

Peltier arranged with Rick Asher, the Citgo station manager, …