“Ladies and Gentlemen, lay it down here. You’ve done all that you could possibly do. Whatever you didn’t do, should have done, felt bad about or couldn’t do, leave that at this Memorial.”
Those are the healing words spoken to veterans who are given the trip of a lifetime to the WWII War Memorial in Washington DC. A trip where they lay the memories of pain and suffering down, hopefully, once and for all.
Honor Flights was started because after the War Memorial was finished, those who needed to experience it the most, couldn’t get there either because of a disability, finances or no one to help them.
Honor Flight Network was cofounded by Earl Morse and Jeff Miller. Earl was a pilot who proposed that pilots pay for the flights and personally escort veterans to the memorial, honor them with a program and lead them on a tour around Washington DC.
Since then, it has grown exponentially and Jerry and Jana Kyser have devoted their lives to honouring veterans through Honor Flights here in the Twin Cities.
As the veterans are in route to Washington DC on charter jets, they are given stacks of letters from children thanking them for their service and sacrifice. It’s incredible! Here’s their story.
