Honor Flight Philadelphia to host journey of ‘honor’ for veterans
Recent ceremonies commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day at the beaches in Normandy, France, remind us of the role that veterans play in our consciousness, and how they gravitate toward those touchstones that pay them honor.
But as a group of volunteers has discovered, many veterans of not only World War II, but also the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and other conflicts the United States has sent men and women to untangle, have not had the chance to visit the memorials that the nation has erected to deliver that honor.
And so enters an organization made up of thousands of volunteers across the country to give those veterans — some aging, many struggling, most just living their normal lives — the chance to travel to Washington, D.C., to visit the places where their service is commemorated.
“This gets pretty emotional,” said Pete Miller, a 71-year-old retired Uwchlan man who several years ago joined the Philadelphia branch of the national Honor Flight Network organization that arranges the trip to the nation’s capital for veterans at no cost to them whatsoever.
“This is a long overdue thank you for their service,” Miller said in a recent interview about the network, its mission, and what is in store for a group of more than 100 men and women this week.
On Saturday, June 15, Honor Flight will assemble a string of buses and travel from East Goshen to Washington, D.C., with the veterans to show them the sights — Arlington Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Air Force Memorial, the Navy Memorial, the Women Veteran’s Memorial, and finally the Korean War and Vietnam War Memorial.
“There are some pretty emotional moments along the way for most of them,” who participate, Miller said.
The group will leave from Saints Simon and Jude Church outside West Chester before the dawn’s early light on Saturday, and return around 5 p.m. the same day. When they return, the veterans will be given a demonstration of the U.S. Air Force Silent Drill Team and entertained by various sports mascots and cheerleaders.
They will also literally have the red carpet laid out for them, as well, Miller said, as a “welcome home” ceremony that many from the Korean and Vietnam wars did not receive.
“They are so grateful,” said Miller, who began his service in the Honey Flight Network by taking his own father, a WWII vet, on the trip, acting as his designated guardian. “They can’t express themselves enough sometimes.”
According to its website, the Honor Flight Network was co-founded by Earl Morse, the son of a Korean and Vietnam War veteran, and Jeff Miller, a small business owner and son of a WWII veteran. Morse, a physician assistant and retired Air Force captain, was working in a Veteran’s Administration clinic in Ohio when then the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., was finally completed and dedicated in May of 2004.
Morse repeatedly asked his veteran patients if they would ever travel out to visit their memorial. But, for most of these senior heroes in their 80s, it simply wasn’t financially or physically possible for them to make the journey on their own.
That’s when Morse decided to do something to help. He arranged to fly a number of veterans in the area to Washington to visit the newly opened memorial at no cost on private planes. Sometime later, Jeff Miller (no relation to Pete) heard of the program and began expanding the effort nationally, bringing veterans to the capital by charter plane. Now, trips are made from across the country — from Hawaii to Maine. It is recognized by the government.
Pete Miller, a native of Plymouth Township in Montgomery County and graduate of the former Bishop Kenrick High School in Norristown, said that since 2011, 2,800 or more veterans from the tristate area had been given bus trips to the capital. On Saturday, 175 are expected to make the sentimental journey.
Honor Flight provides food and refreshments for those on the trip and anticipates their comfort and medical needs, as many are older or disabled. They are provided with “uniforms” for the day, and even get “mail call” on their way back: letters from school students at schools in Chester County and elsewhere expressing their respect for them.
“I think you were very, very, very brave and frightened for risking your life for the world,” one card writer said. “You must have missed your family a lot.”
Miller said that the public is invited to become part of the veterans’ extended family by attending the return ceremonies at Saints Simon and Judge on Saturday, welcoming the veterans home.
For more information, visit the website at www.honorflightphiladelphia.org.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
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