A Welcome Home to Remember

Today we got to be a part of something special.







There is an organization called "Honor Flight Network" that arranges for veterans to go on a day-trip to Washington D.C. to tour the monuments built in their honor. My grandaddy, a WWII vet, got his turn today. Just the group of veterans and some Honor Flight volunteers took a chartered plane to Reagan National airport in the wee hours of the morning and then spent the day viewing the WWII Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and a few other of Washington D.C.'s famous memorials. Then they returned home.











I don't know what it is usually like for the veteran's of these flights when they return home, but for the guys returning tonight to Valparaiso, FL,
there was a big surprise in store. SO many people had turned out to personally welcome them home, I was overwhelmed...and I think some of the veterans were too (William did say that Grandaddy looked surprised and pleased when he realized that his whole family was there to greet him - I think he was just expecting Uncle Johnie to be there to give him a ride home :).


People were lining the walkway- all the way from baggage claim to the very end of the concourse. Active duty soldiers, retired military, regular townsfolk, family members, airport workers, previous "Honor Flight" veterans - all cheering, clapping, waving American flags and homemade signs saying "Thank You" and "Welcome Home".



We got the honor of walking with Grandaddy through all these cheering folks, which included a walk through the Honor Guard's Saber Arch or the "sword tunnel" as Marshall called it. The kids also loved the small American flags that seemed to be everywhere (and I have no idea how, but we arrived with none and left with about 10- my kids must have been working the crowd with puppy-dog eyes or something ;).

Because I am not the greatest of writers, I cannot capture fully how proud I was tonight - proud of the 100 men and women who were being honored and also proud of my town that turned out in such numbers on a wet, rainy, Wednesday night to simply say "Thank You" to people they had never met. I think it was best summed up by the conversation Marshall had with an active duty soldier while walking in. He told the sodier he was coming to see his Grandaddy get off a plane and the soldier said, "I think I am coming to see your Grandaddy too".

I am SO proud of my Grandaddy! :)


http://www.honorflight.org/