FORMED TO HELP WWII VETS, GROUP NEARS END OF MISSION
In 2009, Williamsburg-area volunteers began a labor of love for those who fought and won World War II.
The National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., had opened five years earlier. But members of the Greatest Generation were getting up in age. An 18-year-old who fought in 1943 turned 84 that year. How many could make the trip on their own?
So organizers formed a local chapter of the Honor Flight Network, a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to transporting World War II veterans to the monument that celebrated their courage and sacrifice.
Honor Flight Historic Triangle, as it came to be called, offered veterans a free bus ride, free meals and a personal
escort for the day. Starting in 2009, it staged two trips per year, every year.
Now its mission is nearing an end.
As the WWII generation dwindles, Honor Flight Historic Triangle will make its 20th and final trip to Washington on Oct. 20.
Over the years, organizers opened up bus seats to Korean War and Vietnam-era veterans, said Matt Hartman, mission director.
It gladly expanded its reach while prioritizing seats for WWII veterans, but organizers remained mindful of their original mission. On that first trip, nearly 100 WWII veterans crammed buses; only eight answered the call for the most recent trip.
“We’ve met our mission,” Hartman said. “We’ve done what we set out to do.”
Now organizers want to spread the word: If you haven’t taken an Honor Flight trip and you’re eligible, now is the time.
Interested veterans are asked to submit an application, which is available at honorflightHTVA.org . They can also call 800-619-0578 or 757-655-4342.
Besides Williamsburg, there will be pickup locations in Virginia Beach and Mechanicsville. In addition to visiting the World War II Memorial, veterans will stop at the National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico and Arlington National Cemetery.
Past trips have been memorable. Bob Dole, the former Repub- lican senator and presidential candidate, greeted buses from Hampton Roads during that first trip in 2009.
“In reality, we weren’t worried about having a memorial somewhere,” Dole told the Daily Press that day. “But there’s one here now, and the people who are left — you get a little older and little more sentimental, and I’ll tell you, there’ll be a lot of wet eyes of people going through there.”
In 2013, a federal budget crisis led to a partial government shutdown. Groups of elderly veterans from Mississippi and Iowa traveled to Washington courtesy of other Honor Flight chapters, only to find barricades erected around the memorial.
The veterans ignored the barricades and took over the sprawling monument as several members of Congress looked on with approval. The Hampton Roads veterans arrived a few days later.
“We just said we were going,” organizer Bob Doherty said at the time.
Honor Flight Historic Triangle can claim credit for having transported more than 1,500 veterans to Washington, D.C.
Group earns praise
It’s up to each Honor Flight chapter to decide whether to phase out operations or make a full transition to serving Korean and Vietnam-era veterans, said Jane Julian, national hub director for the non-profit.
She praised the Historic Triangle chapter for a job well done.
“That group has been wonderful,” Julian said in a phone interview from her office in Louisiana. “They’ve been very successful and we hate to see them go.”
In some cases, new groups have formed to continue the mission when an Honor Flight chapter ceases operations.
Julian didn’t rule that out for Hampton Roads, home to a large population of veterans.