A walk around Arlington National Cemetery.
Arlington National Cemetery
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Veterans Day in Washington
That’s me on the left holding a Thank You card from the young man beside me. I was performing my duties as an Honor Flight guardian for a Kansas City Honor Flight. We were at the Korean War Memorial when this young man approached me. His dad told me he had been looking for a Coastie all day. The boy had made a thank you card for one member of each service for Veterans Day. He had given out each of his cards except for the Coast Guard one. We didn’t have any Coasties on this Honor Flight so I accepted the card. One look at his face and you can see he was truly happy to have performed his duty like so many others.
National Geographic celebrates 125 years
National Geographic is celebrating 125 years of publishing. There is a display at the headquarters museum depicting all 125 covers. Also on display are cameras, equipment, and audio interviews of Geographic’s’ longtime photographers. A very worthwhile exhibition.
Time to Cut the Grass
OK so it’s not my back yard. I can’t always get away to far off lands to shoot exotic wildlife. Fortunately I don’t have to. This is the cheetah enclosure at the National Zoo. Lots of fantastic photo ops can be found at the zoo. As a bonus, the National Zoo offers its’ Photo Club members exclusive access to exhibits in the early morning hours. It’s a great way to sharpen your skills and come away with some pretty good shots to boot.
Honor Flight Chicago Celebrates it’s 50th Flight
On Wednesday 07 August, Honor Flight Chicago brought WWII veterans to Washington, DC. This was the 50th time they made this trip. So far over 4000 WWII as well as some Korea and Vietnam veterans have been treated to a day touring their war memorials. This service is provided at no cost to the veterans. All expenses are covered through donations and fundraising by the local hub (Honor Flight Chicago).
A short service is held during the visit to the WW II memorial. A multi-service military honor guard presents the colors and taps is played.
The Korea, Vietnam and Lincoln memorials are also on the schedule of stops. A visit to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space museum completes the tour. The museum holds a special interest for many of the veterans. Here they can see once again many of the aircraft they had become familiar with during their service.
Each veteran is assigned a Guardian – a volunteer – who accompanies him/her throughout the day. The Guardian ensures the veteran is well taken care of and helps to make the day as enjoyable and meaningful as possible.
At the end of the day, in the Dulles airport local swing dancers often provide entertainment while the veterans are waiting for the departure flight. You might think after a full day of flying and touring, the veterans would be dozing off. While some might, others are taking advantage of the opportunity to show off their moves on the dance floor.
The smiles on the faces of both veterans and volunteers marks the end of another successful Honor Flight.