08 June 2011

Honor Flight

The World War II Memorial in Washington DC took a very long time and lots of commitment to finally finish.  Unfortunately, that means many of the folks it honors, are in poor health or otherwise may have trouble getting to see it on their own.

To help assist in this endeavor, Honor Flight was born.  I learned about it from one of my co-workers who regularly helps out on these trips.  In our area, Southwest Airlines will charter a flight solely for this purpose and take the veterans and helpers to and from the city to DC and back in the same day. 

To raise money to keep the program going, this partial miniature replica was built.  It was built on a trailer, so it can be moved around and used in parades.  It is quite impressive on its own.


It is always touching to see how these flights are received when they land at the airport in DC and then again when they come home.  I love that the news media continues to show us these flights, because it is very meaningful to the people involved and their families.

If you look closely, you will see the "Kilroy is here" engraving, just like on the real memorial.

If you are interested in seeing the memorial, or helping out with Honor Flights in your part of the U.S., click on the links above for more information.

M.E.

5 comments:

Jan n Jer said...

This is a wonderful thing...I never heard of this before. Thanks for the information!

TexWisGirl said...

oh, i saw one of these trips on the news recently. it was so sweet to see the veterans cheered as they arrived at the airports...

Beth Niquette said...

Thank you for dropping by FATuesday Artist Spotlight. You are an encourager, you know. I've heard of this--I'd love to take my Daddy on one of these flights. Dad was a prisoner of war in a Nazi war camp for eight months in WW2. He was only 18 years old. I can't even imagine the horrors he had to face then.

Anyhow--thank you for this information. I will see if I can get Dad in line for a trip like this. I think it would be very good for him.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love this.

DeniseinVA said...

It's a wonderful organization. My husband's god-father and uncle was part of the Honor Flight from ND last year. Sadly he passed away a few months later but I am so glad that he got to see the WWII Memorial.