Big Sky Honor Flight to D.C.

A few weeks ago I had the distinct privilege to fly to Washington DC with more than 90 WWII veterans (and a few Korea and one 'Nam vet), as part of the inaugural Big Sky Honor Flight. I was their photographer, documenting their experience. We visited the WWII Memorial, the Korean and Viet Nam memorials, the Iwo Jima Memorial and other stops. I shot a group portrait at the WWII Memorial, a panorama stitching together 5 images. The joy and emotion expressed by these veterans was deeply moving ... words cannot express. For many of them it triggered powerful memories and emotions, or just inspired them to share experiences with family, volunteers and fellow veterans that they haven't shared ever or in many decades. As the son of a WWII Marine Corps pilot, it gave me a chance to fill in the blanks on my dad's war experience, now that he is gone.


For many, this could be one of the last great memories and experiences they may have, and allows some to finally come to peace with their war experience. Something like 1000 WWII vets die each day now – on our trip the youngest was 84 and the oldest was 96. Many veterans cannot travel anymore even though they would like to, and time is of the essence for others. The Big Sky Honor Flight Committee is raising funds now for the next flight, which they hope can go in late September. I urge you to consider contributing if you can ... it is a very worthy cause. This truly is the Greatest Generation, and all these vets sacrificed greatly in the war, and these are the ones who came home. This isn't just for WWII vets either – Korean vets too, and we had one Nam vet who is in hospice care and terminally ill, and this was his only chance to visit the VietNam Wall (which, if you have never seen it, I can tell you is one of the most amazing places you will EVER visit).


Here is a link to the Big Sky Honor Flight:  http://bigskyhonorflight.org/


Here is the link to my photo gallery: http://patrickdowns.photoshelter.com/gallery/Big-Sky-Honor-Flight-June-15-16-2012/G0000T3Hr3YRHTGY/


I urge you to support this with a donation ... consider it as "adopting a vet." Every state has an Honor Flight I think. This image, of Ken Brown's incredible joy as he is greeted on his return to Billings, tells the whole story of the amazing experience this is for these veterans to go on this flight.

photo: copyright Patrick Downs 2012

I heard some great stories and snippets of stories on the trip, but this one told by George, a Navy vet, takes the prize for the funniest one I heard:

He was on a destroyer in the S. Pacific which was tasked to protect an aircraft carrier. They followed the carrier, protected it, and retrieved any pilots who missed their landing and dropped into the drink. For each pilot that the destroyer crew returned to the carrier, the carrier crew owed them a "bounty" of 20 gallons of ice cream. One day they came under attack by a squadron of Japanese Zeros including kamikaze pilots. As planes crashed around them, one Zero ditched into the water right next to the destroyer. The canopy slid open and the pilot hopped out onto the wing of the still floating plane. He waved his arms and to the astonishment of the ship's crew he yelled in perfect English, "Hello Americans! Do you have any ice cream?!" It turns out that he had been a UCLA student when the war broke out, and when he returned to Japan for a visit they wouldn't let him leave. They made him into a fighter pilot, and he had spent the whole war trying to get captured to be able to get back to America! Those are the kinds of stories that are being lost as these veterans pass.

It has been said that a Veteran is someone who 

wrote a blank check made payable to:

The United States of America 

for the amount of

"up to and including my life"

Here is a link to a thank you note from veteran Arthur Merrick, expressing his gratitude for the Honor Flight trip he just took:  http://db.tt/5aEKf451

And here is a CBS segment worth watching, on a WWII hero's wife http://www.godvine.com/WWII-Widow-Finally-Finds-Out-What-Happened-to-her-Missing-Husband-1629.html