opinion

Bangert: A big welcome home, Honor Flight

Does it ever get old, Pam Mow?

Does the thrill of seeing hundreds of people, waving flags on the tarmac as the American Airlines flight taxis home to the Purdue Airport to end another Honor Flight, ever fade?

“Never,” said Mow, a member of the Lafayette Gold Star Mothers and a coordinator for Greater Lafayette Honor Flight.

“Are you kidding? It’s amazing. Every time, amazing.”

On Monday night, 84 World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans on this Honor Flight were making their way through a gauntlet of flags and hands reaching out to shake theirs. Welcome home. Thank you for your service.

Mow, in a white Gold Star Mother jacket in the mild but breezy October night, leaned against a section of fence that had separated a crowd of roughly 300 from the steps rolled up to the charter flight’s door. She took a moment to stand — just stand — after the 12th Honor Flight had taken everyone from West Lafayette to Washington, D.C., and back again in about 14 hours. She exhaled and smiled.

“It never gets old,” Mow said, “because it’s these guys’ first time.”

The trip to Washington is the main attraction for veterans and the guardians who accompany them. Honor Flights are set up as there-and-back flights with guided tours of national monuments built to their service.

“It really is wonderful,” said George Underwood, a World War II veteran and a retired Lafayette doctor. He went with his daughter, Beth Compton. “Couldn’t have asked for a better day.”

But for Honor Flights, the return home has become its own event.

There’s no band. No music. Just gobs of people. Tons of flags. A load of signs.

And a show of respect that rounds out the journey.

“We couldn’t believe it when we were on the plane, looking out,” Underwood said. “Everyone was waving. And all those flags. Loved it.”

Tom McCrae, a World War II veteran from Logansport, got off the plane dressed in the jacket from the Army dress uniform he had during his 20 months in the 94th Infantry. The blue T-shirt the veterans wore for the Honor Flight wasn’t regulation, he admitted. (Neither was the red T-shirt guardians wore, including the one on his grandson, John Nicholson.) But the coat, it still fit.

“I didn’t expect to see all these people,” McCrae said. “I thought we might see 15 or 20 or something. But look at it here. It’s overwhelming.”

The crowds — some family, many not — started arriving on the western edge of the Purdue University campus at least an hour ahead of Monday’s 8:15 p.m. arrival. Those who took their time wound up parking on grassy sections of the Purdue Airport auxiliary parking lots. There were that many people.

Small flags were handed out to those who came through the chain-link gates next to the airport’s terminal. Patriot Guard Riders and members of other Lafayette-area groups held full-size U.S. flags to create an aisle for the Honor Flight veterans long before lights of the plane could be seen coming in over the Wabash River and into West Lafayette.

“I just get chills,” said Stephanie Gilchrist, who was out to greet what she figured was her fourth or fifth Honor Flight. “I mean, it’s not cold out here. But look, my arm. Look at those bumps. You see that plane coming in and, whoa, chills. Seriously.”

Pat Short, a member of the Lafayette Lions Club, was out for her first welcome party, after Mow came to speak to her group a while back.

“She was very impressive,” Short said of Mow. “We thought we should come out to see what she was talking about. … She’s right. The patriotism here is incredible. It’s a very moving experience.”

As the plane landed, the flags waved until people were about worn out.

“My arm is killing me,” JoAnn Williamson of Lafayette said, laughing as she waited for veterans to disembark and make it her way. She was there, she said, “because it’s right. And it’s fun to see those faces when they get home.”

As for the arm? There was no such thing as wearing out, Williamson said.

“Just switch to the other hand. Keep going,” she said.

And the crowd did keep going for more than an hour, cheering for every one of the veterans who made it down the steps, closing in as they searched faces for their families and their rides home. Welcome home. Thank you for your service.

“Have you ever seen anything like it?” McCrae asked.

Mow said she had. And she said that come April 2016, when the next Honor Flight rolls around, she hopes to see the welcome party out in force again.

Because it really doesn’t get old.

“Never,” Mow smiled. “Never does.”

Bangert is a columnist with the Journal & Courier. Contact him at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.

What you can do

For more information about Greater Lafayette Honor Flight, including how to go as a veteran or to sign up as a guardian, go to www.greaterlafayettehonorflight.org.