A flight of honor

COURTESY OF HONOR FLIGHT MAINE

There is a code of understanding among United States military veterans. Especially among those who saw action in battles on land, sea, or in the air. These men and women have shared experiences that are at the same time courageous and often traumatic.

It makes those experiences difficult to share with loved ones, family, or friends. So those feelings can remain bottled up inside for years, decades, or even a lifetime.

Honor Flight Maine works to change that for the state’s veterans.

Part of a national network, Honor Flight Maine is a non-profit, all-volunteer program that flies veterans — prioritized by World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War service — to Washington, D.C. to visit their memorials at no cost to them. 

These trips are designed to thank veterans for their service and sacrifice by providing a day of honor and remembrance, often including a send-off ceremony and a welcome home celebration. Every trip is funded by private donations and corporations, not the government.

“I’ve seen the transformation in veterans who go on these flights,” Matthew Mank, chairman of the Maine Honor Flights board of directors. “I have had veterans tell me they never felt like their service mattered until going on [the Honor Flight] trip.

Every honor flight veteran is accompanied by a guardian, often a family member.

Guardians ensure every veteran has a safe and memorable experience. Duties include, but are not limited to, physically assisting the veteran at the airports, during the flight, and at the memorials. Guardians are requested to make a donation of $500 at least one week prior to the trip to help partially defray the costs of their travel expenses.

That’s how Mank got involved. It was in 2017, and his uncle, a veteran of the Korean War, had — unbeknownst to Mank — signed his nephew up to be his guardian on his Honor Flight Trip.

“He got approved to go and then called to tell me I was going as his guardian,” Mank said. “The draft was still going in 2017,” he added with a laugh.

The visit to the nation’s capital started with a 10-minute film presentation at Fort McHenry — the site where Frances Scott Key penned “The Star Spangled Banner” in 1814.

“About eight minutes in it starts playing ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ and the screen goes up and you see our flag,” Mank said. “All these veterans stood up and I really got it — this is what they fought for, and I kept telling myself not to cry in front of these tough, old vets.”

A typical Honor Flight from Maine includes 55 veterans and their guardians on a chartered Airbus A-320 airplane flown by Allegiant Airlines, either out of Bangor or Portland. Upon landing in DC, three chartered buses bring the group to the various memorials.

Traveling among their military comrades encourages the veterans to open up and share with each other, Mank said,

For some, the act of traveling to the memorials provides a closure that civilian life never did.

“Just this past weekend one veteran told me [before the trip] he had carried this burden for 50 years from Vietnam, and now he felt he could finally move on,” Mank said. “Another veteran told me he could not even remember how many of his friends’ names were on The Wall Vietnam Memorial, but he left his military hat there, and said now he can get a new hat and a new start.”