our purpose was to get local veterans one last chance to see the memorials that were built for them, we've flown over 1000 veterans here from southern Indiana and the Tri-State.

It's like a field trip.

Probably the best field trip I'll tell you, it was quite an experience.

And I know a lot of other people didn't have that experience, but I was blessed.

I'll tell you.

Production funding for A Monumental Honor: Celebrating the Honor Flight of Southern Indiana is provided in part by: Woods and Woods, an Evansville law firm representing veterans nationwide and their VA disability appeals.

Woods and Woods is also the Tour of Honor sponsor for the 10th anniversary Honor Flight of Southern Indiana.

Information at theveteransfirm.com.

and by Shaunda Lynch and Chad Schmidt.

Bianca Snyder, and other generous donors.

And by viewers like you, thank you.

The very first honor flight was started in 2004, in, in Ohio.

They dedicated the World War Two memorial in 2004, which was 60 years after the war was completed.

There's over 130 hubs across the United States.

We've got four here in the state of Indiana - Indianapolis, Lafayette, Evansville, and Fort Wayne.

and we were the 133rd HUD hub to start.

We started in 2014, and since then we've flown over 1000 veterans here from southern Indiana and the Tri-State.

The initiative was to try to get local veterans.

from we have a 14 county area that we that we cover.

And our purpose was to get local veterans one last chance to see their, their the memorials that was built that were built for them, whether it be Vietnam or, World War II or Korea.

so we want to give them one last mission to honor them and to get them out there to see their memorials.

So it's very unlikely that many of the World War II veterans were going to be able to go to Washington, DC on their own.

being 80, you're probably, already retired, probably on fixed income, may have health issues.

we do two flights a year.

Usually one in April, one in October, in that time frame.

we do 86 veterans and 86 guardians.

I've helped with all of them.

I've been on, right at about half of them.

I was on the very first flight.

Yeah, I was a bus captain on flights 3, 4 or 5 and 6 and then I've been on several flights since then.

Rolling Thunder is, P.O.W.. MIA organization, and we help veterans in the local area.

So we we got involved with, Honor Flight back in 2014 when they had their first flight.

I heard about a way back when I first started and signed up, but, I see it on TV, written in the newspaper about the honor flight.

And I really appreciate what they're doing for us veterans.

I've been waiting all this time, and finally, it's my turn.

I personally have been involved with Honor Flight since EVV2.

just by making a monetary donation.

And then I went to the parade, the welcome home parade.

And that was the first time I've ever experienced it.

I was just overwhelmed.

I went on the very first one ever won in October of 2014.

My father was a World War Two veteran, so he asked me to go as his guardian.

So I learned all about honor Flight.

I saw what it meant to the veterans.

And then I just started volunteering with them I started, on EVV2.

my first flight was May of 15.

I think it was, and I just kind of dabbled in it.

I was just doing a couple of other events.

and then they asked me to come back.

So I've been here since, the second flight.

Well, I before, I went to the airport for the return flight for 3 and 4.

And I saw I knew somebody who were on those flights and I saw what went on and I thought, wow, this is interesting.

So I enrolled between 3 and 4.

I drove it for a flight you know, and I got called for flight 6 and went went for that.

we have a list of, I'll tell you, somewhere around 1000 veterans that are waiting to get on these flights.

so we start them and we take them by age.

And the only one that goes before the age, or if we have a medical, terminal illness and things like that, they go to the head, that line right away.

Does it make a difference of 25 or 40 or whatever?

If we have a veteran that might be younger, that wouldn't normally be called, but they have a terminal illness and wouldn't be able to wait until their flight comes up.

We try to prioritize them and move them to the top.

when we get ready to call.

about 12 weeks before the flight.

We start with the oldest in our database and just keep calling until we get our 86 veterans.

It doesn't matter what time period they served.

doesn't matter what conflict area, what branches, service they served.

So that's what makes them eligible.

some say they don't deserve it, but if they volunteer or got drafted or they volunteered and they served the country, they deserve it.

So they should go.

I was contacted by, Sue Bengert, and she’s a wonderful lady.

She is just awesome for the job she does.

And, they sent me, a thing in the mail and invited me to, to go on the honor flight and, I wasn't sure I'd be able to go, because they need they usually are sending people between 77 and 79 now.

Applying is just filling out an application form.

And at that time I don't think we had it online.

I think I had a to fill out a paper one.

And then the next thing they called me and I was kind of shocked.

I got on so quick after I order, been on or.

Yeah, I got a call on it, wanting to know if I was interested in going and so forth.

So I signed up to go in the spring, but come down here.

Got interviewed, had all the paperwork done and all that.

And about a week before we had our dinner, I ended up in the hospital.

I had a blockage and they put a stent in it so I didn't get to go in the spring.

So I got the opportunity to come and try to go in the fall.

So I thought I'd go ahead and take advantage of it because you never know.

honor flight is a great, great program.

actually, I've tried to get on the honor flight for two years with my brother.

My brother is a year older than I am, and he lives in Duluth, Minnesota.

But we wanted to go together.

Actually, all three of us wanted to go together.

But my oldest brother died, so I figured I'd better get on this flight.

we first give them a call, and then when we give them a call, we bring them in for interviews.

We interview not only the veteran, but the Guardian to, that day alone was pretty neat.

you see all the other veterans with their guardians around and they were just kind of you see them just kind of sharing stories a little bit.

And they asked my dad some questions about what all he did in the military and stuff and things like that.

And so it was it was a neat day.

It was it kind of it kind of got you in the spirit of the flight, a little bit.

I would say that on our interview day, we're not necessarily interviewing the veteran to to disqualify them to go on the flight.

We're actually interviewing them to make sure that we can accommodate them, whether they're on oxygen, in a wheelchair, any kind of disability.

We've taken veterans that are deaf, blind, completely immobile in wheelchairs, and we've been able to accommodate just about anything that, somebody can have.

we really try very hard to accommodate everybody and take them on this flight because they deserve to go.

you have to, you know, give them a list of your medicines.

Tell them what your medical problems are so they're prepared.

If you have an issue, they know what to do and how to take care of it.

And there's always medical personnel there.

and, everybody there has to have a chair to sit in, whether you're ambulatory or not.

the reason for that is some of the people are older and some of them can't walk very well.

we had to go through wheelchair training and really all it was, was kind of like a dinner and they basically told you what to do and what you can't do, and then taught you how to push your veteran through with the wheelchair.

it was it was neat.

It was fun to just kind of speak with the other Guardians and stuff like that and just kind of get to know the wheelchair itself, because it's it's a little bit different wheelchair than what you see in a hospital, well, I was very excited.

I don't know, like I say, my brother went on one, back in 16, 17 somewhere.

then and, I was diagnosed back then with emphysema and everything, and we tried to go together, but, it wasn't feasible at that time.

And so, I've been waiting ever since then to try to get in, and my wife just signed up here about two years ago.

we decided we were going to try to go together.

And both of us are.

Our health is, deteriorating.

And, we got to go together now, so that got to be very exciting.

I'd like to see the women's Memorial.

I, I received notification years ago when they first opened that and I wanted to go, but with four small children, that was kind of economically, impossible for me to go.

But, maybe I would I'd like to see all the memorials that they have for the veterans, because a lot of times the veterans don't get the thank you, and the pats on the back.

normally the Guardians are selected by the veterans.

So if you have a family member, neighbor, somebody in their church, or somebody that wants to, that you want to go with, they can be signed up as your guardian, but you don't have to have your own guardian.

We have a long list of people that have just signed up to be Guardians.

so if, you for some reason don't have somebody that you want to specifically go with, we can certainly fill that spot for you.

I am in my application to be a guardian for, for another flight, because I enjoy doing things for other people.

So that's one of my ways of doing that.

if if they call me up tomorrow and say, hey, you know, could you go?

Could you go again?

I would, we have our meet and greet, and that's usually done at the Coliseum.

This is the first time that all the veterans and all the guardians come together.

And we set them according to the bus.

Red, white, blue and gold.

we usually have a guest speaker that comes in and talk to him.

we pass out our, our honor flight coin to them.

Each each one of the veterans go to honor flight coin.

they presented each veteran a challenge coin, and that was the first time I saw my Dad teared up about the whole situation.

other than that, I mean, he was fine, but whenever they presented him that challenge coin, that that meant something to him.

it's one of the first times that everybody gets to be together.

Everybody meets everybody.

the way they divide it, they, divide the tables into the best colors.

So you get to know who's going to be on your bus.

Some people see each other that they haven't seen in a long time.

all of us volunteers, usually we know somebody either went to high school with, one of the Guardians or, you know, they're bringing their dad.

So, yeah, it's really important.

And I think they love it.

I mean, it's just a great experience.

I think the interviews and the meet and greet are probably my two favorite, because we get to actually talk to them and and get their experiences from when they were in the military will be Korea.

we don't get a lot of World War Two veterans anymore, and being a Vietnam vet myself, I like talking to other Vietnam vets that are going on the flight and everything.

So it's, it's cool when you can talk to people and you understand where they been, and they know that you understand.

So they just kind of open up to you.

That's pretty neat.

in the service.

I was stationed in Germany.

So I got to see Germany, I I was in the 43rd Field Artillery and we was in Charlie Battery, and we got to be one of the tightest outfits over there.

Our field sergeant said that we were going to break records, and he said, if you're not qualified, I don't want you in my outfit.

So it was kind of a different experience going through all of it, because he didn't put up with much.

I want to go in the Air Force because of the the electronic experience.

I was hoping to get in schooling, which I did.

So we were attached basically to the fourth Infantry Division, which was stationed at Fort Lewis at the time.

In 1961.

And, but anyway, there was a couple of observers that got the call to go to Vietnam was in medical school.

I enlisted for two reasons.

Number one, I needed money.

And number two, my father was in the Second World War.

He spent two and a half years in Europe, and he had a very good experience.

I volunteered to go to Vietnam.

My feeling was that if those young kids can be over there fighting for quote, “my freedom against communism”, I can be over there to do what I can to help them.

I'm glad that I did join the, military when I did, because, It really made me grow up, and I needed to do that, even though I was 22 at the time.

It, it helped me.

It kind of made a boy a man.

I guess you could say.

we're just blessed with amazing volunteers and community support.

If we didn't have the community support and the volunteers, we couldn't pull this off.

you might think along the way that the community support might start to wane a little bit, but it hasn't.

I mean, each time we get ready to go, we have people come out.

Volunteers come out.

It's really been amazing to see how the tri state area still wants to support our veterans.

I went out to the museum here in town, and I was out there, and they were talking about it.

So I got involved in it there and then.

I belong to worker, and they had a big thing on Veteran's Day.

So I signed up for it when I was there.

I've had lots of positive experiences.

I've really enjoyed working with the veterans.

Of course, our volunteer staff is great to work with.

not all of our volunteers are veterans.

So it's certainly good to just work with a lot of people in the community.

A friend of mine, was a volunteer, and, she had mentioned that they were needing photographers, for honor Flight and wondered if I'd be interested.

And, I looked into it, and I had never heard of Honor Flight before, so it's like, that sounds really cool.

So, I went to one of the meetings, introduce myself, and then after a few meetings, they invited me to do the, meet and greet the sendoff and welcome home for every to.

And I was hooked.

my son and I went.

He went as my guardian.

He's a teacher at central, and, we, we just had a great time.

My guardian was a friend.

I was, dating a lady over the years from Winnsboro.

And she had a daughter, and I picked her to be my guardian, so she went with us.

just seeing the memorials and, actually showing her around.

It's, she had never been to Washington, DC before, so I can enjoy kind of showing her the some of the details and so on and so forth, and informing her what was going on.

So I enjoyed that part.

my father was an Army veteran.

he asked me if, if I would want to accompany him to the honor flight, and I told him I would be honored to do that.

that's how I got involved with it at all.

it's just a great opportunity for the younger generation to just hang out with these veterans.

I mean, I always say, if you give them a moment to talk, they'll talk.

They, you know, and it's just letting the younger generation know what these men and women did is.

Sometimes we lose that.

And I think this is a great opportunity for those parade escorts.

So, you know, if they want to be a parade escort, they can be participating in the parade by holding the posters.

I think it's a wonderful education process.

These young kids need to know that these memorials are here because of these men and women that you're talking to.

I said, that's why you're here, you know, that's why they're here.

And, just to educate them on, our past history, I think that's huge because I think we're kind of slipping away from that.

But what I'm.

What I'm impressed with were, on the honor flight was the volunteers.

It's they are amazing.

I mean, they, put in a lot of hours and really take care of the veterans big time.

I mean, it's I didn't expect that.

hey, whatever you want to do, carry it.

I mean, it was it was great.

All the volunteers who needed help for anything, anything.

They were right there.

Yeah.

Now, most of these people, the volunteers may not have military backgrounds at all.

They, they, they just are appreciative of what was done.

everybody has some form of a gift.

You know, my hobby at that when I was starting out was photography.

And so if taking pictures for the veterans and their families is something that I can do, I'm going to do it.

And, I'm glad I've had the experience.

we have literally many volunteer, just come in and just do whatever it takes to get it done, whether it's feeding the veterans or taking them for their interviews.

take them sitting at their tables when they come in for the meet and greet.

It's just like a beehive.

It's just we got volunteers everywhere.

It's, It's amazing how it works, I've always joked with the veterans, from the, you know, probably since we've for when I really got involved, I gained 86 grandparents from this flight.

And because you do, you develop a friendship.

They they put it, you know, they recognize you when you're out in the public, and they'll come up and they'll say, do you remember me?

And it's it's just, it's a very, very rewarding experience, not only for the veterans and their family, but for the volunteers as well.

What inspired me was, I think it was my dad.

he's passed away, but he was in World War two in the Navy, and, I had the opportunity to escort him on a couple of his Navy reunions.

and they were so much fun.

The guys were.

The veterans were just just wonderful people.

Well, it's, starts early, starts about 5:00 in the morning.

the veterans come in.

We have a, we have a little meal form there that's usually provided by one of our sponsors.

once that's done, we start getting them together.

we get them on the plane.

it's a very early morning.

We get to the airport, Evansville address Regional Airport, about, 5:15 in the morning, fly on a chartered aircraft directly to Washington, DC.

We get on for nice 50 passenger busses that have the wheelchair lifts that can accommodate, elderly patients and elderly veterans.

that morning of the flight.

it was kind of a hectic morning when we had to be there at like 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning and, and, so me and my wife, we head over to my dad's house, pick him up, and we head to the airport.

And as soon as we get to the airport there, I mean, there were greet me like crazy, you know, everybody was around him, applauding, shaking his hand, stuff like that.

on our flight, there were two nurses, lovely nurses, and they were 101 and 102 years old.

And, there were some in their 90s, some in their 80s.

So I had three high school buddies.

I think we graduated from Mater Dei in 1960.

Went on this honor flight.

it was a wonderful flight.

we left her early in the morning and, a large, American Airlines jet took us, around, I think 9:00 or something like that.

And it was about an hour trip, and we got there And my youngest daughter was my guardian, another thing that was kind of surprising when we got off the plane at, DC, when we went through the terminal, the number of people that were waiting in the terminal and, Waving hi and one shake your hand and, I mean, I didn't expect that.

I think if we just go into the terminal and in and out to the bus, and so forth.

once we stepped off the plane in DC, I had no idea of what to expect, and we walked into hundreds of people cheering these veterans on as they got off the plane.

And it just made my heart so happy.

And the flags were flying and the Girl Scouts were there.

The Boy Scouts were there, you know, just people off the street.

Volunteers.

and I thought, wow, this is really, really cool.

soon as we got off the plane again, it's people would, you know, applaud him.

telling him thank you.

you know, they had a, musical quartet there and singing, you know, patriotic songs.

And it was just, I mean, it's I mean, as soon as you walk in to the airport, that's what you saw and what you heard.

Welcome.

to DC and then we start, we start out at the World War II Memorial.

Usually when we get there.

We get them all a group picture, and they have their big photos with them.

So we put those on the plane, take them with us, and they start there, they take the, the the group photo.

They're, that kind of puts us up without to worry about them anymore.

And then, they travel.

They travel to the, Korean and Vietnam, memorials.

They get, we release them for a while, and, and guardians push them around, go to the memorials so they can see those.

we get back in the busses, we go over.

We go over to the, cemetery, and, we watch the changing of the guard.

tomb of unknown Soldier.

that was another thing that stood out to me.

Really, of how precise them soldiers are on the march and and the changing of the guard and stuff like that.

That was really, really neat.

we go see the World War two memorial, the Lincoln, Korean, Vietnam.

We normally do a driving tour, which includes, the Smithsonian Ford Theater, Pentagon, the white House, Capitol building, several other buildings that we get to drive through.

We visited all the memorials and they are impressive.

Second World War memorial is the largest.

do you know how many people died in the Second World War?

How many soldiers 400,000.

What's the population of Evansville?

150,000.

Four times the population of the city.

Just think about that.

we go to the Air Force.

We do drive bys for the Air Force Museum.

A lot of times it's still only can show us a little bit.

If we have time, we stop at the Navy Museum, let them get out, walk through the museum.

we do stop by the, the the women's memorial just came on board here the last year or two.

I had been to, Washington DC in 1966 years, summer 66 and so all the sights.

But they didn't have any of the war memorials back then.

And, so I hadn't seen any of the war memorials at all.

Only one that was there was the Navy Memorial and the Iwo Jima memorial.

I had never seen the, the Air Force Memorial.

That was something that it really impressed me.

And the Korean Memorial, brought out other stories that I had seen before, but I had never really paid that much attention to it.

So it was more more of, renewal than anything.

Besides the the places, regular veterans go to.

We snuck off and went down and saw the FDR and Martin Luther King sections, too..

I knew one person, that got killed in the Vietnam War.

And so I was anxious to.

When I'm on the honor flight to see his name on the wall, which I did find.

And, took a picture of him.

So that was, Tom Reaser was the name.

He was, a pilot and got shot down over in Vietnam and got killed.

So I knew him.

so I desperately want to see his name on the wall.

So I'm kind of sad situation.

I'm in.

It was important to me.

I'm interested in seeing some of the names and everything on the on the different monuments.

So I had a few cousins that was in World War two, so I thought maybe I might be able to find some of those.

I think my dad's favorite one was probably the Vietnam War.

I think he was taken by surprise of that wall.

And so was I. I didn't believe I couldn't believe how tall it was in the middle section.

and my dad made a comment.

A lot of good.

A lot of good guys died here.

And he's right.

I mean, it was it was a very touching moment for him.

I do believe, just to see the magnitude of the wall and the magnitude of the names on that wall and, you know, it was it was it was very it's unbelievable.

If you if you've never seen it before.

It's something that I think every American should go see eventually.

I Vietnam Memorial, was the black wall, I mean, obviously I treated some of those people that died.

I didn't know who they were.

I if that was your buddy's name up there, it's a very moving experience.

just felt a loss of of what these people could have been and what families they would have had or what families they'd left behind I like to get emotion, most of it happy.

and it's, oh, it's usually happy.

But yeah, I have caught several tears.

that's why I love to do what I do.

It's just it's emotional, and it hits you in your heart.

I try not to invade somebody's personal space.

And I think with photography and especially in that moment, it's a tough call, but I could take the picture, without them knowing.

And then later on, when I'm processing, I look at it and I'm thinking they're probably in a lot of pain right now.

They're bringing back some memories that they don't want to relive.

little sad times.

when you see the memorial, some of them, especially some of the guys that that lost buddies that were actually in Vietnam fighting for on our in our flight group and seeing tears every once in a while.

It made just kind of somber for a while.

And and you then your get your emotions back up again and have had some fun laughing about stories and stuff that people start telling so well.

It was just kind of up and down, mostly up.

the most movement part for me was just being there with my dad and just sharing that moment with him.

served in war time.

He never did go to war.

he's always told me that he was probably a couple hours away from to go into Vietnam.

this last flight, it was a lot of Vietnam vets.

The Vietnam Memorial was very, very emotional.

And, I always carry a tissue with me because I know I'm going to need it while I'm out.

taking pictures.

but, yeah, the Vietnam Memorial was was very emotional.

This last trip.

a long day.

we wrap it back up, we bring them back to the airport.

We feed them supper there.

you know, on the plane.

Come back to Evansville, And it's very, very organized.

And if somebody were to take a trip there, it would probably take them 3 or 4 days.

But we did it in about, roughly 12 hours what was not really - tugged at me was the mail call on the plane when you got to read letters and cards from all over, and especially the kids, I mean, I that's tugged at your heart to read some of the stuff they wrote on the little cards and stuff and, we're talking, you know, third or fourth graders or something like that, especially those and maybe even some of the first graders and that printed and stuff that was, that was really great.

Warm feeling in your heart.

but 70% of it is from grade school kids.

That's pretty curious and fun to read.

And I kept them for a long time, a lot of them.

I did see some tears shed from some of the other veterans on the flight on the way back home.

So, yeah, I think it was special for him.

little bitty baby hands made that, so that probably came from, like, a kindergarten or first grader.

And, I just hope that they realize the impact that this is.

I mean, you can just tell on their faces that, they really, really appreciate this.

they handed all the mail.

Call out on the plane on the way back home.

Dad, he he basically got it and just held on to it.

A lot of the other veterans on the planes, are on the plane.

Was opening up and looking at him as a dad.

You wanna look at yours?

And I was kind of sitting across from him, and, he said, no, I'm going to wait until I get home.

Okay.

So whenever we got home the next day, I came back over and, we went through it all.

And, you know, that's when we went through the whole bag, kind of.

And plus the mail call stuff.

And I think he was touched about it.

I think he really enjoyed it.

Come back to Evansville, get them off the plane.

It takes about a half an hour, 45 minutes.

Get them in line.

We have.

We have usually one of the one of the grandkids.

Somebody carries a photo of them also in front of them.

And we do a parade of heroes through the airport and everything come back out.

So it's it's pretty cool.

I had a I had a, gentleman, He is a World War two vet, So soon he's going to be 100 years old.

And, he wasn't even going to fly.

But we brought him out, as as our, parade marshal.

we're starting to do that.

We get some of the older veterans and let them be the parade marshal.

And he he would just, young your heart.

Just just talk your head off once you get him started off.

Just a really nice gentleman.

And it was nice to sit down and talk to him about his experiences of World War two come back home to Evansville, and we have a welcome home parade, and they're usually done about 8 or 9:00 that evening.

So it's a very long day.

It's about a 16 hour day when it's all said and done.

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

when they sing the national anthem and the whole entire airport chimes in and everybody's singing it, you just can't help but tear up.

so even just taking your kids, your grandkids put putting some red, white and blue on them, bringing a flag, just welcoming, the veterans home is huge.

When we got back to the airport and you walk out from back there and see all the people there waiting, I don't know how many where, but a couple thousand, probably gas or maybe even more, I don't know.

But seeing all those people there, waving them the signs and so forth, I'm just warms your heart.

And, and it was it was really great.

I mean, that was the best part, I think, was, was that coming back and, that was that was terrific.

the airport was full from side to side, top to bottom most.

I mean, it was just it was unbelievable.

They were even outside.

That's how many people were at the airport.

so yeah, it was it was really, really neat to see the outpour and support from the community here in Evansville.

I don't come from a military family.

And when I went to that welcome home parade, just, you know, I've always had my faith, family and God and country, and I've always been very, so thankful for our veterans.

And when I saw just the love of of love and support, people just coming out to cheer these veterans on, I was like, wow, this is awesome.

I want to be part of this.

clapping cheers clapping Then we take about a month, month and a half break, and then we bring them back in for their reunion and we all back to it again.

And this time we have all their photo books together because we take two photographers with us and we take a media person with us.

And when that happens, then we pull all those books together, all the pictures, and then we, we give each one of them a book, it's fun to see, like, 2 or 3 of the veterans together and just opening the book and and, like, you know, and I hope that when they do that, they're looking at a picture that possibly I captured that made them feel good about themselves or made them remember a memory from from the trip.

And that's pretty much our goal as photographers is to make sure that we bring good memories, happiness, capture, their day correctly and with a little bit of love.

It's a way.

You know, you tell our veterans, thank you for your service.

We say those words a lot.

But this is a way to put action behind the words.

And that's what I saw, that this is another way to show them our respect and appreciation for what they did.

it has affected me personally in so many different ways.

I think the number one thing is that if this is just one little thing that I can do for what they have done for us, I mean, it's really nothing.

they are constantly all day thanking me, thanking the photographers, thanking everybody for what we do.

It's like, no, thank you.

You know, thank you for what you've done for us.

was just it was a lot of fun.

And it's something that I'll never forget.

And I'm glad I did it with my dad.

I like to thank the the, the honor flight of southern Indiana, all the volunteers, which was amazing.

I mean, it did such a great job.

I didn't expect that much from it, but, they did anything you wanted.

Plenty of food, whatever.

I took care of you.

I mean, it was fantastic.

Well, I want to thank the honor flight.

I certainly will attend every one of their events if they if I have the opportunity, it was just, a delightful, delightful day.

And I'm so glad I was asked.

And I went I think that whoever goes on one of these flights will be really impressed with with a a group, the organization of the Honor Flight in southern Indiana put on a good, good show for everybody.

I think everybody really enjoyed themselves, It's like a field trip.

Probably the best field trip I've ever been.

But we get to make friends with 21 or 22 new veterans.

because we get to talk with them, interact with them.

I hear their stories, I've had this experience also being the president of Rolling Thunder because I help veterans all the time.

But this this is even more impactful because they come back and they said it was just amazing because some have never been to Washington, DC before in their life.

And they come back and they're all big eyed and, and, it's just you need to listen to them, listen to the stories about, and even the guard is a lot of times they take their sons or their daughters with them, and, and they're even overwhelmed by, by what happens that whole day and how much, how much, stuff we put into one full day at Washington, DC.

I'll tell you, it was quite an experience.

And I know a lot of other people didn't have that experience, but I was blessed.

I'll tell you.

Production funding for A Monumental Honor: Celebrating the Honor Flight of Southern Indiana is provided in part by: Woods and Woods, an Evansville law firm representing veterans nationwide and their VA disability appeals.

Woods and Woods is also the Tour of Honor sponsor for the 10th anniversary Honor Flight of Southern Indiana.

Information at theveteransfirm.com.

and other generous donors.