Veterans who travel to Washington D.C. as part of an Honor Flight are duly impressed with the tour of the national memorials, but they are equally impressed and touched by the spontaneous applause they receive at airports, and the reception they get upon arriving at the nation’s capitol.
The Honor Flight provides, at no cost to the veterans, the opportunity to see the memorials that the American people have built on the National Mall in honor of their service. The veterans participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the National World War II Memorial, followed by stops at the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, Navy Memorial, Marine Corps War Memorial, Women in Military Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery.
Applications from World War II veterans are given priority. Because they are in their 80s and 90s, there are fewer and fewer of them and it’s a race against time. Disabled veterans are also prioritized, although all veterans are required to be in a wheel chair on the tours. A guardian or guide, is assigned to wheel them around and oversee their general well-being. While the veterans on the Honor Flight participate at no cost, there is a $1,000 assessment for the guardians.
Price residents Clark Warren and Joseph Mason, who are both veterans of the Korean War, recently made the Honor Flight trip and talked to the Sun Advocate this week about their experience. The men’s sons, Clint and Keven served as guardians. Mason said, “His son and my son got to be really good friends. They met the day we took off.”
A Naval airman, Warren flew 35 missions over North Korea as a tail gunner. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, among other decorations during his ten years on active duty. He also served in the reserves for 24 years.
Warren said of the 50 veterans on the Honor Flight, only nine were World War II veterans, and the rest were Korean and Vietnam veterans or both. The group boarded buses at the Salt Lake armory and was escorted by the motorcycle group, the Patriot Guard, to the airport where they got a big reception, which included the Salt Lake Pipe Band. He estimated, “There must have been 2,000 people in that concourse, and a lot of them were rushing up and shaking our hands. Pretty stirring that was.”
It was a full itinerary in Washington D.C. Warren recalled, “We got in there on a Wednesday night, toured all day Thursday and Friday, and left that evening. “You were going all the time.” He related there was a big presence of school kids at the National Mall who displayed posters of the veterans and sought them out to have the posters autographed and get their pictures taken with the veterans. He conceded, “The Korean Monument was emotional for me. I was bawlin’ there. And I think Joe was teary-eyed too.”
Mason, who was an Army paratrooper, recollected, “A lot of my time in North Korea was at the main line of resistance, 30 miles above the 38th Parallel.” He said their job was to hold a bridge over the Injim River which was a main supply route. Of the Honor Flight, he said, “I really enjoyed it.
It was quite humbling.”
Mason noted that, “If it wasn’t for Clark, him and I wouldn’t have gone on it.” He said veterans outside of the Wasatch Front were being left out until Warren happened to meet the Honor Flight Chairman Mike Turner, and expressed his concerns, “so Clark was the instigator here.” Warren called it a great experience. “I encourage every veteran to go. And if they don’t, they’re sure missing a golden opportunity,” he concluded.
Utah Honor Flight is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. Contributions are tax deductible and 100 percent of funds donated go to support the mission of the Honor Flight. For application information call 435-272-0254, email info.utahhonorflight@gmail.com, or visit www.utahhonorflight.org.
Honor Flight- the trip of a lifetime for vets
Clark Warren and Joe Mason