Welcome WWII Veterans Home from Upcoming Honor Flight!

2nd Honor Flight

May 4th, 2011

7:30pm Landing

Update: Katie Jeffries of News Channel 12 WCTI interviews Maj Gen Tom Braaten, USMC Ret, about tomorrow's Honor Flight.

Ordinary men and women became extraordinary heroes when the attack on Pearl Harbor brought America into World War II. Servicemen watched comrades die terrible deaths on beaches and in foxholes, were wounded in body and spirit, and bore witness to horrifying inhumanity. They liberated Europe from the Nazi occupation, and saved those suffering unimaginably in concentration camps. They defeated Japan, then they, the greatest generation, came home and went back to their families, their work, their lives, never seeking any recognition or glory.

Honor Flight Southeastern North Carolina, a nonprofit organization, plans to fly 108 World War II veterans and their guardians from the Coastal Carolina Regional Airport in New Bern to Washington, DC on May 4th. With the help from the 2nd Marine Air Wing Band, Scouts, Young Marines, JROTC units, Knights of Columbus, school kids and YOU, we will welcome our heroes home, in true patriotic fashion. If you were at the airport in September for our first Honor Flight, please come again, as these are 108 different WWII veterans. The estimated time of arrival back in New Bern is 7:30pm. Please arrive prior to 7:00pm, so we can be ready to welcome them home. Carpooling is highly recommended, as we anticipate a large crowd.

What does the Honor Flight mean to our WWII veterans? Bill Leonard was on our first Honor Flight out of New Bern last September. His e-mail caught the sentiment of those we honored when they returned: “…, but the most warming, appreciated moments came when we landed at tiny New Bern airport. The plane was almost one hour late in arrival. As we all stepped off the airplane and were starting to make our way through the airport, almost a thousand people were there to greet us. Men & Women [young and old], children, veterans of later wars including those currently serving, the civic organizations, [emotionally, it is even hard to write at this time]…all so eager to shake our hand, or hug us, and in some way express their heartfelt thank you for all that we, who served in WWII, have done to enable them to live in the freedom we enjoy today. One mother, holding an infant in her arms, thanked me on behalf of her little baby, for enabling her child to grow up in the United States…It was a great day; a true flight of honor; The words and actions of so many who truly appreciated what we did and to let us all know. It was a lifetime experience.” I think that says it all.

PLEASE COME OUT AND HELP US WELCOME THE WORLD WAR II VETERANS HOME!

Submitted by: Shirley Gabbert, Coastal Carolina Regional Airport, 200 Terminal Drive, New Bern, NC, 252-638-8591 ext 222