EDITORIAL

Honoring service remains vital

Posted

The scene has been repeated many times at T.F. Green Airport, with tears flowing and banners waving as dozens of veterans embrace their loved ones.

It’s why the Rhode Island Association of Fire Chiefs’ 24th Honor Flight – codenamed “X-Ray” – was a success yet again, as it has been since Honor Flight Alpha took off in November 2012. The RIAFC’s mission is to “transport our WWII heroes to Washington D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials,” and their return is always a site to behold.

The Warwick Beacon, Cranston Herald and Johnston Sun Rise have covered them extensively, as recently as the issue you’re holding in your hands or reading online. In Oct. 23, 2018, our publisher John Howell wrote, in a column titled “Honor Flight is always a story,” that the flights had “become so frequent that they no longer make the news.”

There’s no reason every one of these events shouldn’t be a lead story on TV and radio, or on the front page of the paper. These men and women need to be appreciated at all opportunities, as 348 World War II veterans are dying each day according to a September 2018 report from the National World War II Museum.

The Museum wrote that only 496,777 of the more than 16 million WWII veterans were still alive as of last September, with just more than 2,000 of them living in Rhode Island. The newest updates and projections are set to come Sept. 30. In five years, the report estimates will be fewer than 100,000 WWII veterans alive in the U.S.

The National Veterans Foundation estimates that 2.25 million out of the 5.7 million Americans who served during the Korean War – otherwise known as “The Forgotten War” – are still alive today. Those figures are as of June 2016, the most current year for which available data could be found.

There are even Vietnam War veterans present at the Honor Flights, receiving rightful praise for their role in one the country’s lengthiest conflicts.

Pictures poured in to the RI Fire Chiefs Honor Flight Facebook page this weekend, with folks sharing personal stories of their journey to D.C. and back. Photos of service members, family, friends and other supporters lined the exit at Green Airport, applauding veterans for their work and welcoming them back home.

One man, David LoPriore – whose post was eventually shared to the page and received a glowing reception – offered a dispatch from the day’s events in D.C. with his father, Walter: “We arrived in DC to a water cannon salute spraying our plane to honor the veterans as we taxied in and then to literally hundreds of cheering people in crowds lined up to greet us.”

It’s that appreciation that should never be lost. Whether veterans were on the front lines or offering support in other ways, each and every one of them deserves a lifetime of thanks and applause. It’s the least we can offer in return.

The timing of the most recent Honor Flight is especially emotional and fitting, as it took off only a few days after the 18th anniversary of Sept. 11. As soldiers are still fighting and dying overseas to protect our freedom, remember and appreciate fondly those who did the same decades ago.

So the next time the Honor Flight leaves from Green Airport to Washington – that will be March 28 - consider making a stop at Green Airport to offer a handshake or stand in the receiving line. You’ll need to get there at 5 a.m., but it’s a small sacrifice that goes a long way.

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