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The first Honor Flight Guardian sponsored by the new National Guard Educational Foundation program accompanied some veterans from Florida last week visiting memorials in Washington, D.C., commemorating their service.
Retired North Dakota Army National Guard Col. Bob Kilber, who now lives in the Sunshine State, helped escort 68 veterans from The Villages, a large 55+ adult community in central Florida.
They toured the Marine Corps War Memorial, better known as the Iwo Jima Memorial, in Arlington, Virginia, and monuments on the National Mall, including the Vietnam Memorial Wall, on their one-day trip.
Veterans pay nothing for the experience, which includes meals and hotel accommodation for trips of more than one day, thanks to a long list of sponsors. Guardians, however, normally must donate $400 or more to help hold down overall program expenses.
The George and Charlotte Demetriades Guardian Program, administered by the NGEF, in conjunction with the Honor Flight Network, now covers Guardian costs for NGAUS active-annual, active-life and digital-life members. More information.
Kilber said the flight was his 10th as a Guardian, individuals who physically assist veterans, many of whom are in wheelchairs, help with boarding and provide companionship. There was one Guardian for every veteran on the Honor Flight from Florida.
“Guys like this bring me back,” he said while tapping veteran Dave Smith on the shoulder while the two visited the Iwo Jima Memorial, where they were treated to a performance by a Marine Crops drill team.
Smith, a draftee, spent much of his two years in the Army as a medic in Vietnam. He said he anticipated seeing some familiar names in his first visit to the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
Many of the veterans last week served in the Vietnam era. One notable exception was a 96-year-old who “snuck into” the Marines as a teenager during World War II and later fought in Korea and Vietnam.
Kilber said the veterans “open up” on Honor Flights, offering accounts of their service they haven’t shared in many years, if not decades.
“Having been a Guardian for veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, I’ve learned so much,” he said.
Many Hornor Flights begin with a departure ceremony and end with a “homecoming” at the airport that includes family, friends and current service members in uniform.
“The veterans are on a natural high the entire day, especially on the way home,” Kilber added. “The whole day is about the Veterans.”
George Demetriades Jr., the son of George and Charlotte Demetriades who owns and operates two Chick-fil-A restaurants in Arlington, Virginia, underwrites the NGEF Guardian program. An Iraq War veteran, he served in both the Maryland and Tennessee Army National Guard.
“A lot of the veterans of Korea and Vietnam never got the welcome home I received when I came home from Iraq,” said George Jr., who has been an Honor Flight Guardian five times. “This is a way to say thank you. It’s never too late to say, ‘Welcome home.’”
The Honor Flight Network began in 2014. Today, it brings approximately 22,000 veterans annually to Washington, D.C., according to officials. Nearly 40,000 are currently on waitlists to join a flight. Many have never been to the nation’s capital.
Flights are organized by more than 130 active Honor Flight Hubs across 46 states. The NGEF pays the Hub directly from the Guardian Program for space on the plane and expenses in Washington, D.C.
George Demetriades Jr. said he is funding the Guardian Program, in part, to give NGAUS members the chance to discover what he and Kilber have learned by being a Guardian.
“I believe it’s critically important, especially for our younger Guard leaders, to meet and learn from those who came before us,” he said. “And this program will remove the financial barrier for most NGAUS members currently serving in the National Guard to be an Honor Flight Guardian.”
—By John Goheen
