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Arlington → Baltimore 50.1 mi (80.6 km) |
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What so proudly we hail, everyone!
It’s the third and final day of the Honor Flight! The family members who weren’t escorting veterans left for home early this morning, but the veterans themselves have one last day of adventures ahead of them! Spirits were running high this morning, so I was really excited to see what lay in store for us!
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Our first stop was the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, honoring the man who was president during many of these veterans’ early years! Mr. Roosevelt is credited for vastly expanding government services and jobs for folks down on their luck during the Great Depression. If you’ve ever enjoyed the benefits of Social Security, or driven down a road built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, you can thank President Roosevelt for pushing those initiatives!
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We can’t forget the contributions of his wife, Eleanor, who revolutionized the role of First Lady during her time in office! She was an outspoken supporter of human rights, which included rights for women and children, discriminated groups, and the impoverished! She visited troops abroad during World War II, and after the war, she was the first US Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, served as Chair of the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission, and helped write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights!
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Once the veterans’ bus arrived, a miraculous change came over the guests of honor! They started to get out of their wheelchairs and wander, laugh, and reminisce! This monument recalls the period of their lives before they went to war! Sure, it was the Great Depression, but it was also their childhood, their coming of age! One veteran was super excited to see the statue of “Franklin Delaware Poncho Villa Roosevelt!”
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My friend, Eddie, was also in great spirits this morning! He had gotten his hearing aid to work, and the old rockhound was up and about, telling everyone who would listen about the mica content in the Memorial’s stone walls! Then he was down on the Potomac, asking a local fisherman if he was catching sunfish, bluegill, or carp! Some folks never change, and thank goodness for that!
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After a few hours wandering the FDR Memorial, the veterans hopped back aboard the bus for one last stop on their Honor Flight. I didn’t get to go with them this time, so I had to find my own way north to Baltimore! En route, though, I stumbled upon a neat little plaque commemorating the nation’s first scheduled air mail flight in 1918!
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About an hour north, I arrived in the Independent City of Baltimore, where the Honor Flight was scheduled to conclude at Fort McHenry, site of a battle that took place long before these veterans were around, but maybe a place that their great-grandparents would have known!
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Two hundred years and one week ago, Britain launched a massive naval bombardment of Fort McHenry in an attempt to capture Baltimore Harbor! It was really a terrifying spectacle, nonstop rocket and cannon fire from the world’s most formidable navy! The way the visitor center presented it, it’s a wonder that Michael Bay hasn’t touched this battle yet!
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Anyway, by the time dawn broke on the morning of the fourteenth, lawyer Francis Scott Key, who had been detained on a British truce ship to watch his country get attacked, spotted a tattered flag still standing as the smoke cleared and was so moved that he started writing down verses that evolved into our national anthem! For that reason, the flag must always fly over Fort McHenry, by presidential decree!
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In a fitting last gesture, these Honor Flight veterans had the rare opportunity to raise their own special American flag, and an Honor Flight flag, over Fort McHenry for a short while! Everyone gathered together to unfold the flag, and one of the lady veterans raised it, hand over hand, from her wheelchair! It was a touching moment, full of symbolism. May the courage and sacrifice of these fine folks fly in decorum forever!
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So, Eddie and the rest of the veterans boarded their bus one last time for a trip to the airport and a grand reception waiting for them on the other side of the country. He said he had really enjoyed his time on the “Life Flight” and was really impressed by all the to-do. After so many years without travel, I think these three nonstop days of action were good for him. I was really impressed with the Honor Flight, its level of organization, the food, and the choices of venues to really show this Greatest Generation how much we folks of the future appreciate their work in the past!
Taking off!
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Total Ground Covered: 89.9 mi (144.7 km) |
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