Welcome to a multi-post series of the Guns Save Life group’s Honor Flight trip on September 19th. There’s FAR too much to put in a single post, so I’m going to make a series of it. Probably will combine one or two stops into each post. I tried to post full-size images for those who want to download then and save/print them but it may not work depending on browser (or our server). (Right click them and then chose “save image as” or “open image in new tab” may get you a full-size image.)
This is the second post in this series. See earlier posts here:
GSL GROUP HONOR FLIGHT SERIES: The night before and the flight into Reagan National…
We flew into Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia to a hero’s welcome, complete with a water cannon salute and applause from staff and travelers at Reagan National Airport.
Once we took a potty break, we hit the buses for our first destination, the World War II Memorial.
It didn’t take long to get there on the buses.
Hey, that looks familiar.
Along the way we saw some breathtaking beauty.
Not sure what this bridge was but it had some very nice monuments beside it.
Once we arrived at the World War II Memorial… it felt like scared ground, as it is. The place is breathtakingly beautifully crafted. Even as a cynical person, they did this place right. Symbolism was everywhere and it was well-thought out and very beautifully done…
The first order of business was the group photo with just the veterans. Yes, it was kind of like herding cats but the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight staffers were masterful at making it happen. Experience does that.
Mission accomplished, complete with a salute!
From there, folks went their separate ways to see the sights nearby and to soak up the awesome architecture of this wonderful memorial.
A lot of folks wanted to talk with our World War II vets in blue shirts.
The facility is enormous.
Each one of those stars represents 100 American lives lost.
There were a handful of other tourists there, but our Honor Flight crew (and later a smaller contingent from Kansas) outnumbered them.
Many of our Honor Flight participants had their own family as guardians like this gent. That made it extra special for them, I’m sure.
It’s all handicapped accessible too. In a chair? No worries. Your green-shirted guardian will get you wherever you want to go. (If you didn’t see our first post, the blue shirts are WWII vets, the Yellow are Korean and Red Vietnam-era.)
Nearby were the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool, and in the opposite direction was the Washington Monument.
Next stop: The Korean and Vietnam War Memorials…
Oh yes, did I mention we had a police escort to help us through traffic? Yeah, that was beyond cool.
And traffic was kind of hairy, but the bus drivers did well. Sometimes they had to muscle in lanes where drivers didn’t want to yield the right-of-way. A couple of drivers tried pressing their luck but between the police escort and the physics involved (my bus vs. your econobox), we were gonna win.
You couldn’t PAY me to drive into DC. But those are beautiful spaces. They did a great job on the WWII memorial!