Honor

I have decided that D.C. is one of my favorite towns. But more than that I think it’s a place every American should have to go to every few years. As you walk among the monuments you really get a sense of history, sacrifice, courage, and greatness. It essentially makes me a well of emotions just to stroll past the names on the Vietnam memorial, or read the walls of the Lincoln memorial. This time I was even worse.

On the steps of the Lincoln memorial I noticed a number of older gentlemen all wearing the same shirts and hats. While this is not the least bit out of the norm in D.C., it struck me that many of them in wheel chairs were being pushed around by men in active duty uniforms. It quickly became apparent that the older men were WWII vets. As we hung around and I overheard bits and pieces of conversations, I learned that they were all there for the same reason. The WWII memorial is new in terms of D.C., completed 7 years ago in 2004. Some bright individual realized that heros of that war are ageing and passing before they have had the chance to see the memorial erected in their honor, and so they decided to fix the problem. Honor flight is a non profit organization that funds a visit to D.C. for WWII vets so they can see the memorial that pays homage to their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their friends.

We had just come from the WWII memorial and had seen the display of 4009 stars, each star representing 1000 individuals that died in the war. It’s easy to walk away from something like that and dismiss the magnitude of numbers that large because they are impossible to comprehend. Then as we sat on the steps overlooking the mall, I overheard an active duty soldier who was pushing one of the wheelchairs say “You see those two big flags at the end of the reflecting pool? Those are flags for your memorial.” At which time the vet sat up straighter, clenched the arms of his chair, and his chest rose. To see first hand the emotion on that mans face as he undoubtedly remembered and honored his buddies, just a fraction of one of those stars, is an image I will never forget.

If you can visit D.C. and not feel patriotic, then you either have no heart, or are one of the million foreign tourists pouring out of busses, fanny packs loaded and camera dangling loosely around your neck. We of course did the typical touristy things. Visited memorials, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Smithsonian’s, tidal pool, cherry trees, ect. But we also got the tour of a lifetime. The friends we stayed with, Aaron and Danielle, just so happened to have some inside connections. Danielle works for the house representative for South Dakota. So we started our day off with a quick tour of her office. Then that grew into an informal tour of the capital. Next thing I knew I was basically being strip searched by the capitol police, lying about a meeting I had with a Senator, and eventually being issued an I.D. Before it was all said and done I had to again lie about my plans (this time a different lie), and clear two more security searches where they took ANYTHING even REMOTLY electronic. Yes even my earphones and the remote for my truck. And then there I was, on the floor of the house. I stood where the President stands for the State of the Union. I sat in the front row and pretended to vote. I saw the chair where Biden falls asleep. It was monumental, and probably nothing I will ever experience again.