I don’t know how many of you know about Honor Flight.  I first heard of it because I knew someone who fought in WWII who was able to travel to D.C. to visit the Memorial because of the generosity of this group.

In their words:

Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America’s veterans for all their sacrifices. We transport our heroes to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans – World War II survivors, along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill.
Of all of the wars in recent memory, it was World War II that truly threatened our very existence as a nation—and as a culturally diverse, free society. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 640 WWII veterans die each day. Our time to express our thanks to these brave men and women is running out.

I just learned that there is a movie, called Honor Flight – One Last Mission.  Here is a trailer:

Honor Flight is a heartwarming documentary about four living World War II veterans and a Midwest community coming together to give them the trip of a lifetime. Volunteers race against the clock to fly thousands of WWII veterans to Washington, DC to see the memorial constructed for them in 2004, nearly 60 years after their epic struggle.
The trips are called “Honor Flights” and for the veterans, who are in their late 80s and early 90s, it’s often the first time they’ve been thanked and the last trip of their lives. The 24-hour journey is full of surprises that deeply move all who are involved. It’s uncommon for World War II veterans to talk about the War, but the Honor Flight experience brings their stories out. Many veterans say, with the exception of their wedding day and the birth of their children, the trip is the best day of their life.

Their official page:
Honor Flight – The Movie
Watch the trailer here (it’s different from the one, above), and read about the film.  I’m ordering my copy today.  You can also watch it on line.
This honors those men – like my much-older brother, Robert, my friends J.J. and Richard – who gave years of their time, and risked their lives for all of us, and for The United States of America.  My brother, who had to ask permission from our mother to join the Navy at 17, and whose ship, the U.S.S. Comfort, was bombed by a kamikaze pilot.  J.J., at 18, who could have stayed home because of his invalid father, but went to Germany with the Army.  Richard, who joined the Air Force, and crashed into the Indian Ocean, where he ate lots of raw fish while waiting to be rescued.
None of them are still living, but I can honor them still.