I have never been on hand to greet an Honor Flight before. This is a mistake I intend to remedy because being at the Rochester airport when the Honor Flight veterans come home is an amazing experience!
My friend, Paul Tramonto Sr. went on this particular flight. He was attended by my niece Amanda (also his daughter-in-law) who went with him as his "guardian". The guardian accompanies the honoree to all the events, memorials and helps see to their needs... And each honoree has a wheelchair available to them in Washington D.C.... even if they don't need it... in case they get tired. The planners want nothing to spoil or lessen the pleasure of the trip. They visit all the war memorials... they see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier... And they are treated like royalty.
They came home mid-day Sunday and this is what it looked like:
The Boy Scouts were practicing how to present the colors and salute!
A robotics class from a local high school here to greet the veterans!
Me with Lena, Mary Ruth, Eli and Finn.... patriotic fun stuff to wear!
It was wonderful. Inspirational. And there were ladies dressed in vintage 1940s clothes, ready to plant kisses on cheeks... and leaving "lipstick" lips.... It was so cute.
Everyone clapped. Everyone cheered. And there were two Vietnam veterans with tears in their eyes because it took over 45 years for them to get the welcome home they missed in the early 70s....
The whole thing was an amazing experience. Fun and thought-provoking and just a great way to teach children the beauty of sacrifice and the sacrifices required to maintain freedom.
A great day for all of us.
There won't be another flight until next spring because the weather needs to cooperate, but you can bet that I'll be there to greet some of those flights when they come marching (or rolling...) home.
God is good.
Love this, Ruthy. Even your red, white and blue antennae. ;) We say, "Never forget." Yet we do forget. Instead, we're bombarded with what's wrong around us. The perceived injustices and how we're all victims. But these men and women who put their lives on the line for our country so we can have the freedom to complain, they're not victims. They're heroes. And we would all do well to take a lesson from them.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that! And I love the antennae... :) We wear them for the Memorial Day parade, too. Ya gotta have some red, white and blue, right?
DeleteWell said, Ruthy and Mindy!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember when the honor flights started, but I'm so glad someone developed this wonderful tribute to the forgotten soldiers. It's such a small gesture in return for the sacrifices they made.
And what a fun way to put feet on caring and patriotism for the grandchildren! Teaching by example. :-)
Jan, that's so true... and bless Mandy for checking into all of this and taking her father-in-law for the flight. So awesome!
DeleteMy friend and former high school classmate Joan Nyatri said that the person/man who developed Honor Flight is in her church in NC.... Well thank you to him for thinking of this! Yay!!!!
Ruthy, this is so wonderful! I love those touching photos. I've seen soldiers greeted at the Atlanta airport before and it was very moving.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Missy... it was an eye opener about how cool this is. I was oblivious to what an honor it would be to welcome them home! Not anymore!!!
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