Honor Flight - First of Several Posts

Honor Flight started in 2005 in the Springfield area. This non-profit is bringing incredible respect and tribute to a group of very deserving people. I may just have to send a few bucks their way!

On a previous post about Dad's invention, I mentioned that he had been chosen to go to Washington, D.C., for an Honor Flight trip in April and that I would be writing about it here. That trip was Saturday, April 19. Dad went with a group of 61 World War II veterans to take part in this visit to the war memorials. He said it was one of the best, most memorable days of his life. While he was overwhelmed with the generosity of the organization in paying all the expenses including soft drinks and snacks and transportation, the part that seems to ring through all his conversation is the amazing outpouring of thanks and gratitude of perfect strangers who walked up to shake their hands and tell them "thanks for serving." The honor guards went with them everywhere to make sure the day went perfectly. Active duty military people saluted them at the airport and on the streets. People on the airplane had flags and cheered them when they got on and off the airplane. Everywhere they went, there was a heroes welcome. I sit here with tears in my eyes thinking about how much this expression of love and respect meant to Dad and all the vets on this trip. Thank God for America; and thank God for Americans who still recognize somebody for sacrificing for them.

I'm hoping to post several times about Dad's trip as the pictures roll in. To start the ball rolling, however, I think you have to know about Freddie. When Dad (Garl McHenry) was notified that he was selected for the 4/19 Honor Flight, he e-mailed his former crew mate and best Army buddy, Freddie Becchetti. Freddie and his wife, Vivianne, live in Virginia not far from D.C. Freddie and Dad have kept in touch over the years and in recent years have collaborated on web sites about their war experiences and some war stories as well. One of the highlights of the trip on Saturday was the fact that Freddie came to the mall on Saturday and met Dad. They hadn't see each other in person for about 10 years; and it sounds like they had a great chance to eat their box lunches and sit on the grass and catch up.

One of the best parts of the meeting with Freddie was that Dad and Freddie talked about how to find each other in the crowd at the mall on Saturday. They decided that they would wear baseball caps . . . Freddie's orange and Dad's black with an ensignia. Well, it so happened that another group of tourists showed up at the same time as the Honor Flight wearing orange t-shirts. So the orange hat wasn't as easy to spot as they thought. They eventually found each other at the chow line. But I think Freddie gets extra points for the red hot chili pepper shirt. I've got to GET one of those.

I need to sort out some of the information that I got on this trip to give you a reasonable idea what went on. But before I leave this post, I have to say that there is supposed to be a brief segment on the evening news tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 6:30 p.m. about this group of Honor Flight vets. And NBC is also supposed to air a two-minute segment on Brian Williams' portion of the broadcast. Dad was not on camera, but you might want to catch the clip just the same.