Honor Flight thanks military vets with trip to Washington D.C. to tour the nation's monuments and memorials

Yahoo

08-05-2025

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The Brief
One of 10 annual Honor Flights to Washington D.C. took off from Phoenix Sky Harbor carrying veterans on a tour to war memorials and monuments in the nation's capital.
The whole operation is volunteer only.
They took veterans from the Korean War, Vietnam War and World War II on the trip.
PHOENIX - A special flight landed in the nation's capital. An honor flight from Phoenix, taking military veterans on a three-day trip to tour the memorials and monuments in Washington D.C.
Most importantly, the flights were provided to honor their service.
Honor Flight heroes are greeted at Sky Harbor Airport
The backstory
Honor Flight is a volunteer-only operation across the country.
The mission is to take these veterans to Washington D.C. to see the monuments and memorials, but mostly to make sure they know we remember and appreciate their sacrifice.
They move slowly through Sky Harbor Airport to claps, cheers and hand shakes.
Military veterans from Vietnam, Korea and even a 98-year-old from World War II.
Honor Flight heroes march toward their flight to Washington D.C.
What they're saying
"It's very, very overwhelming," said veteran Peter LaRosa. "I can't believe that you all would do so much for so few of us."
It's one of 10 trips a year to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials and monuments.
The sites were only made possible by the sacrifice of these men and women.
"There's so many years we were ignored or denied that we even existed, so I am very happy that we're finally getting recognition," said veteran Jeanette Booker.
"Oh boy, what a wonderful opportunity. I never expected it," said veteran David Keeler.
Not all veterans return to a glorious celebration. Some feel they were not truly appreciated at the time.
"A lot of people think that all the World War II veterans came back to their parades but they didn't," said Matthew Hartman, Honor Flight logistics coordinator. The Korean War is 'the Forgotten War' so obviously those veterans probably didn't get a good welcome home. And we've all heard the horror stories of the Vietnam veterans when they came home."
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Why you should care
It takes dozens of volunteers to pull this off.
From traveling medics to keep them safe, to school kids who made sack lunches.
"I helped out for this cause so the US Army could have lunch," said volunteer Grayson Bond.
"I volunteer because of my dad and the life we had as a family and our way of life being preserved because of all of these wonderful people," said volunteer Deborah Van Dusen.
As they walked, limped and wheeled their way to the gate, passengers stopped in their tracks for a standing ovation.
The first honor flight was in 2005 and the first honor flight out of Arizona came a few years later in 2009.