I signed up to be a volunteer guardian for Honor Flight several years ago. I knew there was a backlog and so I wasn't surprised when I didn't hear much for a long time. Then there were a few contacts about needing guardians for upcoming flights, but they were for times when it wouldn't work out for me. This was followed by a prolonged period of time when I assumed I must have been dropped from the list. As it turned out, flights had nearly stopped due to a lack of funds. It shouldn't be too surprising that programs like Honor Flight are in greater need of money than volunteers.
A few weeks ago another call went out for guardians and as the time would work well enough for me, I agreed to participate. Training was to be held right after vacation and was listed as "optional," but I just could not see doing this without as much information as possible. The training was on a rainy Monday, and it was more of an orientation than a training, but it did come with enough relevant information to be worth it. I also learned that the vast majority of guardians were going with a close family member or friend. Guardians such as myself who were helping a stranger were by far the minority. The tentative schedule had me as a guardian for a WWII veteran. There was some apprehension in the whole endeavor, having a significant responsibility for anyone, let alone someone why may need a lot of help, is a significant responsibility.
On the morning of the Honor Flight, and after going to bed as early as I could the previous evening, I got up a little before 1:30AM and got ready. Heading toward the airport and the chartered flight to DC, I found it surreal that the bars were still open and hootin' and hollerin' from the previous evening. It was raining very hard which made the early, dark drive slower than it should have been.
After parking and making my way to the airport, I entered a somewhat chaotic scene with a semblance of order under the surface. After some uncomfortable searching, I met Mr. W, a WWII vet. He was mostly wheelchair bound but mentally quite alert; quiet but friendly. After some chatting with him and his daughter, she left as the swirl of activity ebbed and flowed around us. Soon enough, the call went out to board the flight. We breezed through TSA which was a good thing as I couldn't imagine fully screening every passenger, especially with some of the limited mobility of many of them.
Mr. W sat right up front in first class, and I took one of the first guardian-appropriate seats near the back. It happened to be an exit row, and the extra foot room was nice. It takes a lot of time and coordination to board the plane, and this continued through the day every time the plane or bus was boarded or unboarded. This meant a lot of waiting around, but it was never painful to do so.
The flight took off and headed east. As the plane flew, a gorgeous sunrise took shape over the rain clouds below.
Once at Reagan Airport, we boarded three buses to bring everyone to the memorials. Mr. W's bag was grabbed by someone else which caused me some angst. I felt like I had already made a mistake (even though it wasn't anything I did or didn't do) and it was raining pretty good with a fairly miserable forecast so Mr. W's rain coat would probably be needed. As it turned out, Mr. W's rain gear was not in his bag, but I didn't realize that until much later in the day. His bag was located quickly enough, but was never used throughout the day. I ended up carrying everything and gave Mr. W the rain coat I had brought.
Not many of the other guardians seemed as enthralled with this as I was, but having a police escort through the day has to be one of the unexpectedly coolest aspects of the day. Not only did that allow us to get to our stops extremely quickly - and this was important given the schedule combined with typical Washington DC traffic - but rolling through stop signs and red lights with police sirens was just plain a hoot. It has ruined me forever; I'll never be able to look at big city traffic the same. Those police exhibited very little humor for drivers who did not yield to us.
Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery. This was one of the few places I didn't get to see when I was in DC in 2003. The rows and rows of white grave stones was sobering. The buses stopped near the Tomb of the Unknown, and everyone got out of the bus to heavy rain. I was wearing a disposable poncho, and Mr. W had my rain coat; neither of these were adequate for the heavy, cold rain. Seeing the soldier, without identified rank, guarding the tomb in heavy rain was even more impactful than it would have been on a bright sunny day - it somehow seemed fitting. The rain did not make it very comfortable for any of the viewers of the changing of the guard, but all the veterans and guardians were stoic about the rainy weather, as they were through the entire day.
The next stop was the FDR memorial. Most of the program seems correctly directed towards WWII veterans, and FDR is both a large memorial and has a component directed toward WWII.
The third stop was to the Air Force Memorial which is probably one of the most impressive ones in the city. Like the Washington Memorial, it can be seen from a great distance away. It was also our lunch stop, but the continued terrible weather meant almost everyone ate on the bus. The constant rain was getting to be painful.
The fourth stop was to the Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and Korean Memorial. This was right near the National Mall and other monuments in the area, but they were not viewed directly. It was probably the longest stop and the Vietnam Memorial is terrible for wheel chairs. The walk to the actual Wall is partially on a section with very small pavers separated by significant spaces - it was far too easy to get "stuck" on this walkway with a wheel chair. When rolling, the uneven surface was like a rickety Conestoga wagon.
One really neat thing was the presence of an attache from the Korean Embassy at the Korean War Memorial. Korean veterans in our group were given medals and thanks as they walked through.
Throughout the day, many of the stops had military or civilian groups present to greet and salute the veterans. This was really neat to see - this was a trip all about the veterans and at one point I commented to Mr. W that he had had more hand shakes on that day than I probably had in the previous 10 years. Washington DC has a lot of active military about and at just about every stop, they took time to thank the visiting veterans.
The rain was once again very heavy at this fourth stop, and many of the veterans cut their viewing short to get out of the continued awful conditions. Making things worse, it was an atypically cold day as well. I'm not sure how the weather affected the overall impact of the day.
The final stop of the day was at the WWII memorial. This was under construction during my 2003 visit so I was glad to be able to see it completed. It really is a nicely thought out and pretty memorial. Mr. W seemed to really like it and thankfully, the rain stopped, and it even warmed up a bit. We were able to spend quite a bit of time walking through the memorial and taking some pictures.
After the WWII memorial, we were off to a volunteer dinner at a local fraternal organization hall.
One of the things I really liked about the Honor Flight was the constant activity. There was some waiting when boarding and unboarding buses, but everyone was always doing something. Flying volunteers takes up precious space for veterans, so everyone was needed. This contrasts with many previous volunteer efforts I've been a part of.
In most of my previous volunteer events, there are 24 people with enough work for 14 - meaning busy work for too many people or, more likely, standing around feeling like tits on a bull. Some of this is hard to avoid as experienced volunteers can do stuff faster than training volunteers that may not be around very long. One-time volunteers end up being superfluous. It is at the point where I would rather typically donate money over volunteer. As evidenced by the time it took me to become a guardian on an Honor Flight, it seems that funding is in shorter supply than volunteers even for programs that use volunteers effectively.
This phenomenon was on display at the dinner. I'm not denigrating the dinner, as it was generous, tasty and a good time, but there were clearly more volunteers than were needed. Do not set down the fork, for a volunteer is likely to scoop it up instantly along with the plate!
To be fair though, volunteering often is partially for the volunteer as well as the voluntee (if that can be used as a word). This makes sense when helping to instill ethics and life lessons to young people, but it can appear a little more desperate with adults.
Once dinner was over, we made our way back to the buses and headed, now without our police escort, to the airport. Once again through TSA, we boarded the plane only to find out the plane had been overfueled. Previously unknown to me, planes can not land with too much fuel due to weight concerns. Everyone on the plane was tired and even though we had mostly dried out, the rain hadn't helped the mood much. But everyone kept good spirits as we waited to have some fuel pumped out of the plane's fuel tanks.
Soon enough, we were in the air en route to home.
The welcome home was overwhelming. There had to be at least 1000 people there giving a military-esque welcome to the veterans. Bands were playing, military members were there, "pin-up" girls were there - although in some kind of a tribute to, rather than facsimile of WWII pin-ups. I don't recall seeing that many tattoos on pin-ups from WWII. Watching the reaction of the veterans was interesting. A few were visibly moved by the huge welcoming, some showed frustration at the end of the long day.
I found Mr. W's family and we talked for a while. Things at the end of the day were a little chaotic, so I wasn't sure if I had any final responsibilities and eventually made my way to my vehicle.
On my way home, I noticed the same bars were still open. I found this a little sad.
Once at home, I quickly went to bed. The next day was almost one of recovery after being awake more than 24 hours sandwiched between two nights with little sleep.
With a few days past to reflect, I was really impressed with the Honor Flight Program. Most of the participants, both veterans and guardians, were uninitiated so there was the potential for anarchy and/or lots of grousing. Thankfully, there was little of that and just about everyone I interacted with maintained a positive attitude. It really was a privilege to be part of the flight and helping a WWII Vet see the memorials.
I've gone back and forth as to whether I would be a guardian again. It was a great experience, but I can't help but wonder how much better it is for the veterans to do this with a family member or a close friend. To be clear, guardians pay their own way so it isn't a great way to experience DC unless what one is looking for is to grossly overpay for a flight to Washington and then see only what others want to see. But again, the program is for the veterans, not the guardians. There probably are some veterans who do not have the support needed to see this with someone close - and for them it appears there is a significant back-log of waiting volunteers. I'd almost see it as more valuable to help a veteran participate with a friend of or family member who may not have the means to be a guardian, but I'm at the same time not sure how to square that with using that same money to help more veterans see the memorials. These things are never easy...
I don't know that my day as part of the Honor Flight could be considered fun. What I can conclude is that my day with Honor flight was a brutally long day, ferociously wet, and very rewarding. I can only hope it was for all the veterans, especially Mr. W, as well.
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