All,
I would like to take a minute or two of your time to reflect on the trip of my lifetime. It’s not the destination, where we stayed or how good the food was, or what celebrity we saw, playing where, etc., but rather the meaning and the purpose of the trip. This may not be your best read of the day and certainly with no competition to Clarence’s writings, but I do not claim to have the literary skills of those of Clarence. This trip was known as the “Honor Flight”, many of you may be familiar with this program, and some may not, but regardless it was initially established to make sure that the WWII veterans got an opportunity to visit their memorial in the nation’s capitol. It has grown into a massive organization, made up of volunteers, to now make sure that veterans of all wars through the Vietnam War get an opportunity to see their respective memorial, and all at no cost to the Veteran. Before getting too far into my story, I would like to thank a few people, and not in any particular order………the “Honor Flight Association”, both nationally and the local levels: My wife “Teresa” who was my Guardian on the trip; Don Hodges, who got up at 3:00 AM and met us at the B’ham Airport, and who is no stranger to the program (has made some 14 trips with WWII veterans); the many veterans whom I was fortunate to make the trip with; and those 100-200 active duty personnel and veterans from all wars that greeted us at the Baltimore Airport (near D.C.). There were Navy personnel (both male & female active duty) and WWII veterans lined up in wheel chairs, appeared to be the length of a football field. They were there to HONOR us for our service, and I shook hands with everyone that I could, and said “thank you, and thank you for your service” It was an emotional experience for me and my fellow veterans. That moment (seemed like an hour) will forever be etched in my mind (small brain). Many of them said “welcome home brother”, knowing that we as Vietnam veterans never had a welcoming home such as they may have had. We all know that the Vietnam War (Conflict) was very unpopular and that was the reason for no welcoming home of its’ veterans. May I remind any or all of the people who may have not liked the War, that it was okay to dislike the War, but not its’ veterans. We served where our Country sent us, as have all the service members before and since us. One thing I heard from many of the Veterans standing and talking in front of the “Wall” was the Jane Fonda incident.Most of you are Classmates and many of you went on the Class Trip ’62, and I can tell you that most of the “memorials” that we visited are still there and most unchanged, but the War Memorials were not there and they are some of the most impressive Memorials in our nation’s capitol. Regardless if you are a veteran or not, I bet you have a family member or friend that served, and I would recommend seeing them on your next trip to the Capitol city. I know most of you remember the “Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier”, that was one of my most memorable moments on our Class Trip, well I watched it twice on this trip and could have watched it many more times.
I appreciate you taking a moment to have read this, and should you have a chance to make this trip as a veteran or otherwise, please do.
Thanks,
Ben
