Honor Flight is a non-profit organization whose mission is to take veterans to D.C. to visit the memorials that honor their service and dedication. It was established by pilot Earl Morse in 2005 and with the help of donations and volunteers has now escorted over 200,000 veterans free of charge to see their memorials.
In April, our sister company, StoryPoint, had the opportunity to send four of our resident veterans on the trip of a lifetime: Honor Flight Dayton. Our four residents had the opportunity to fly to Washington D.C. to embark on an all-day adventure throughout the city.
The idea to take our residents on Honor Flight came from Sean Tracy, our Veterans’ Project Coordinator. He wanted a chance to take a few of our veteran residents to see the memorials, as some of them had never been to Washington D.C. before. The opportunity to fulfill this dream was too good for StoryPoint to pass up. As Sean said, it was a day that we will never forget.
It was a beautiful day out and the sun was shining. Residents were able to visit graves when at Arlington Cemetery and look at the names of all the fallen soldiers at the Vietnam memorial. Just as intended, this experience changed their lives forever, and gave StoryPoint an opportunity to honor their resident heroes.
“To be gifted the opportunity of going on Honor Flight was amazing. To be able to see our residents faces and reactions when they stood amongst the monuments built to honor their sacrifices to this Nation is something I will NEVER forget! The one thing that will stick closest to me is when my Veteran hugged me, said thank you then said she loves me.”
Honor Flight included viewing the “Changing of the Guard” ceremony, Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, Air Force Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial and all of this was made possible by the amazing police escort.
To learn more about Honor Flight or to make a donation, please visit https://www.honorflight.org/.
