Trending
Many veterans of the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam never received the honors of so many before or after them, a wrong the Blue Star Mothers of America, Inc. North Central PA Chapter 12 seeks to right.
The organization took one step in that direction recently with honor flights, covered in Tuesday's edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, a visit to war memorials in Washington, D.C., from which veterans returned to the sort of homecoming that the public likely envisions veterans returning from service receiving.
Honor flights began simply when, in 2004, a physician's assistant and pilot named Earl Morris, offered to fly a World War II veteran that he was treating to the newly finished WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C., according to Honor Flights Philadelphia board member Andrew Schiavello.
"The veteran just broke down and cried, so he took two vets down with him, and when he came back, there was a handful waiting," Schiavello said, according to a preview of the project in the Seot. 23 edition of the Sun-Gazette.
We appreciate the region's chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America -- and we strongly encourage every man, every woman and every family to reflect on the debt we owe veterans for their bravery and sense of service to our nation and its principles.
We believe our communities will be better and our future stronger if we find more opportunities to express gratitude for those sacrifices and to teach our youngest community members to continue carrying that sense of thankfulness for our armed services and our veterans.