WASHINGTON, D.C. — Honor Flight groups are moving through Washington this weekend to see war memorials, Arlington burial grounds, and landmark stops that ring the Mall and the riverfront.
Honor Flight Maine brought 65 veterans plus guardians after a Friday send-off from Bangor. The nonprofit has offered the no-cost journeys since 2014 so veterans can stand at the monuments raised in their honor.
Maine travelers plan stops at the Vietnam wall and the Korean War memorial, the memorial for military women, Fort McHenry, and the Unknown Soldier tomb across the river in Arlington.
A second party of 19 Vietnam veterans left Bedford, Virginia, on a first-time Honor Flight aimed at the same capital stops. Southwest Virginia Honor Flight organizers said the visits are meant to deliver healing, closure, and thanks many never heard after combat.
Following a brief Bedford ceremony, the group boarded coaches for the capital behind a motorcycle escort. Relatives plan a noon welcome home on Sunday.
The overlapping schedules put dozens of veterans on Washington memorial paths in one weekend, from the monumental core into Arlington neighborhoods that host the cemetery gates.
Filed under: Washington DC Neighborhood News