About 65 Normandy veterans and their escorts landed at the Roanoke Blacksburg Regional Airport last Thursday morning to a patriotic crowd of about 500 people, who came to cheer, flag wave, sing and give hugs to the veterans, known as “The Greatest Generation,” for their sacrifices during the war.
As part of the “Honor Flight” network, the “ground crew” arrived on an earlier flight to make preparations for the charter flight from the West Palm Beach, Florida airport.
The crew made sure the buses were there to carry the men on to the Hilton Gardens in Lynchburg and then on to the D-Day Memorial to participate in a special 70th anniversary program. They also gave advice to the crowd to not hug the veterans too tightly as most of them were in their nineties.
This was a first visit to the memorial for all of the veterans, and for most it was the first time they had been to Virginia. Their escorts were their children or grandchildren or current or retired military. They all proudly wore their blue Honor Flight t-shirts and red baseball caps.
The crowd that came out to greet the veterans was made up of a very diverse group – girl scouts, boy scouts, brownie troops, Vietnam vets, biker groups, moms with their kids in strollers, senior citizens, people in full camouflage clothing or three piece suits.
The Hidden Valley High School band provided patriotic music and American Flags were plentiful. People lined the upstairs hallway, the downstairs lobby all the way out the front door and into the parking lot.
City officials, along with representatives of the fire and police departments, were also on hand to welcome the men as they came off of the plane. The fire department even provided a water cannon salute to the plane on the tarmac before they disembarked.
As soon as the veterans came down the escalator or got off of the elevator in wheelchairs, the tears began to flow. They were simply overwhelmed by the large crowd.
One of the men remarked that he expected “maybe a handful of people, but nothing like this.” They took their time going through the crowd, waving and hugging and even saluting onlookers in uniform.
Eighty-nine year old Irving Swirsky of Sunrise, Florida said he was “the baby of the group.” He was happy to talk about his service, saying, “When I got off that boat at the end of the war, they handed each of us a glass of milk . . . That was it.” He and his two brothers, all WWII veterans, all made it home from the war. Many of his friends were not so lucky.
The Honor Flight network, an all-volunteer group, provided their services for free, providing veterans with all air and ground transportation, hotel rooms, food, as well as mementos like t-shirts and caps. For most of these men, this will be their only visit to the memorial that was created in their honor.
– Carla M. Bream
