www.wdayhonorflight.com

Honor Flight # 3

Recap - November 2-3rd, 2007

Thanks to the 230 amazing WWII veterans who made our most recent trip a huge success. We flew out of Fargo to a hero’s send off thanks to local military units, veterans organizations and the patriot guard. What a great way to depart!

Once in Washington, we were greeted by volunteers who welcomed us to Washington. Because of our airline delay out of Fargo, some buses were unable to do any touring of the city. Other buses managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam and Korean Memorials.

We hurried back to the hotel to attend a banquet in honor of our heroes. ABC News Sam Donaldson was our guest speaker. We also visited with North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan and Minnesota Senator’s Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman. Sparky Gierke led us throw an emotional POW/MIA ceremony to remember those comrades who couldn’t join us at the table tonight.  Stephen R. Brown was also there to autograph his book, “Jewel of the Mall” about the WWII Memorial. Each veteran was given a free copy.

After the banquet it was off to bed for some of our tired veterans while a few were spotted in the hotel bar socializing with buddies. I even spotted a few playing cards in the lobby.

On Saturday, it was breakfast at the hotel and off to the highlight of our visit. A stop at the WWII Memorial. It was pretty chilly for our morning group. Because of it, we altered our itinerary and had the group load their buses early for an impromptu tour of the city. When we returned to pick up our box lunches from Arby’s, a special visitor was there. Senator Bob Dole. He ended up visiting every single one of our buses that day. All 230 veterans had a chance to chat with him.

When they weren’t at the memorial veterans visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima Flag Raising). Awesome!

We boarded our plane and headed back to Fargo to a hero’s welcome complete with our local veterans organizations color guards and a military band! Girl Scouts even passed out carnations.

Again, on behalf of the Honor Flight committee it has been such a pleasure getting to know these amazing men and women. It’s been an amazing year! People often ask me if we’re done. Here’s what I can tell you. WDAY committed to this project for three flights and one year. But nothing has been ruled out. Nothing has been decided. The committee is meeting in a couple of weeks to determine our future.

Again, thanks a million for an amazing year!!!!!

Tracy Briggs, WDAY Honor Flight Chairperson

Pictures of our November 2-3 Trip can be seen at:  http://honorflight.wordpress.com/ or at Haney's Photography