Honor Flight - April 16th

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Seventh thirty one, Think you aboutAIRCD talk station. Happy Wednesday, meet
even happier cuz. Welcome back CherylPop from Honor Flight Try State. You
do such a wonderful job with HonorFlight and I personally have had the experience
of being a guardian Honor Flight.I had a World War Two veteran the
first time, I went a KoreanWar veteran the second time. What an
amazing and absolutely unforgettable experience it is, Cheryl Pop, welcome back to the

(00:24):
morning show, and thank you somuch for the work that you know the
volunteers do at Honor Flight. Oh, good morning, Brian. It's our
pleasure. We finally get to givethese veterans to thank you that they need.
And it's a lot of work gettingthem there, but once they get
there, their smiles in their tearsor just make it all worth it.
Oh, I can't imagine this isone of this boy. I can't wait

(00:45):
to get up and go to worktomorrow kind of things you're at tholved with
Cheryl, you know, and onyour website, and for the folks,
it's worth going over to Honor FlightTrystate dot org. Read some of the
handwritten and typed up testimonials from people, and the one consistent theme with I
think almost everyone, I will neverforget. It's thank you, thank you,
thank you, amazing event in myheart forever. I'll never forget the

(01:07):
day, everything you did for us, your support of the veterans, I
mean consistently, like me, myexperience unforgettable. And that has been the
uniform experience for all the veterans andthe guardians and the folks who show up
for the return ceremony after each honorflight. Oh, that thing's getting crazy.
We're in a new spot now that'sa lot bigger. And the Cincinnai
police and the CBG personnel over thereestimated about thirteen hundred people, so to

(01:34):
get parking for all them, getthem all over there. The patriotism,
I mean, you can't see anythingbut a sea of red, white and
blue. I think before you seta patriotic injection. Yeah, thanks more
than that. He even hangs abig flag now in the rotunda there.
So it's just fabulous. And wedon't want to talk a lot about Honor
Flight as we do about the veterans. I mean, seventy percent of the

(01:57):
vets on this flight a Vietnam,and you know, the horrendous experience they
had when they came back, andwe hope to like smooth some of that
over and let them know that westill are behind them, We're with them
through everything, and kind of apologizefor the nation's attitude so many years ago
when they came back to just thankless, you know, return. So,
yeah, that's our that's our missionnow. The World War two and Korean

(02:22):
guys, we've just about exhausted them. The ones that can travel, you
know, with help, that's goodenough to go. But we still have
a flightless program, and we stilldo home visits and all kinds of other
things to keep them connected. Butas far as it's eighteen hour day,
it's grueling and we need to have, you know, some margin of health
to get them on the road.But we take care of everything. All

(02:42):
they have to do is show upat the airport a five o'clock still out
a lot of forms ahead of timeso we can figure out what we're dealing
with. We take for medics fromCheviot on every flight, and we get
back about nine o'clock at night,so it's it's all out all day.
It is pose a lot younger thanthe two veterans that I escorted, and
I'll tell you I was beat bythe time we landed. And then then

(03:07):
you see the welcome home celebration andimmediately you get this massive shot of adrenaline.
It's like you don't even want togo to sleep. You're just like,
oh my god, you wake up. It's this It's almost like taking
an amphetamine when you walk in inthis huge crowd is cheering and singing the
praises of these great American veterans.Well, and you know, when you
were a little kid, your momalways said, what'd you do get a

(03:28):
second win? Yeah, you gota great, big second win. Yesheo.
I know it's been a couple ofyears since you've gone. I'd really
like to invite you on the Septemberseventeenth flight, and you and Mike would
like to come. This would beour pleasure to host you on this flight.
Oh my god, I will haveto check my calendar. That is
a distinct honor. You know,I've been offered a third opportunity before,

(03:49):
and honestly I turned it down onlybecause I felt badly. I've been on
two of them, and that takesthe spot off from someone else. Who
might not have gone. But we'lltalk about that. But you might won't
have to always go as press.You can always fell us press and then
you don't take anyone's steak. Butthen we have someone might accuse me of
being a member of the press,have a guardian and you would be a

(04:11):
member of the press. All right, Well you could press flash with every
one of them. Maybe we willwork something out. Cho I was pleased
to see, as I'm holding backmy laughter because of what I want to
get to now. I'm on thewebsite on our flight tri state dot org,
on our flight charters, an entireAmerican Airlines Airbus three twenty one's you're

(04:32):
a You're not on a Boeing seventhirty seven max. No, no,
no. We couldn't kill us atthirty seven anyway, it would be too
much of a hassle. You've gotfour buses as it is, eighty nine
passengers all on one flight, andthey decorate the plane too. Americans awesome
to it, they really are.It's a door to door. By the

(04:53):
time we get to regular International Airport, we're only eight minutes away from our
first memorial at Ewo Jima. Yeah, so we really take advantage of the
time. Tom has set up anitinerary that's really tight, taking advantage of
all the locales and putting in youknow, allotments for the traffic and everything.
But everybody says, well, there'sno way you can do a listing.
Well you can if you have policeescorts, you have upfront parking,

(05:15):
and everybody's working to get you everywhere. So it is. It is so
well oiled. It's absolutely amazing.You know, even the even the restaurant
stops, you know, because theydo feed the veterans and the crew and
everybody there. Everything is just likeit goes off without a hitch. Do
they I know the staff at CVGalways participates in the sendoff and the welcome

(05:36):
home. They are so supportive.Do they still do the water cannon thing
with the airport with airplanes that isthat was so cool? Absolutely? Yeah,
Well that's something only for retired pilots. So we get absolutely special treatment.
Our hometown airport rolls out the redtarpet literally for two days before and
a day after. By the timewe get everything back the way it was.

(06:00):
You know, we have a wheelchairsdelivered early. The plane gets you
know priority gate. I mean it'sjust amazing what they do for us.
We can't say enough about CBG andthe wing Gate in two over in Blue
Ash. They've been our sponsors forour training meeting for over fifteen years now.
Oh wow. So we take uptheir conference rooms and we train all
the guardians and they're so hospitable.I mean, they're just all over the

(06:24):
vets and that's what we need.I mean, people, just everybody steps
up a little bit. This isa puzzle that fits together beautifully and I
love I'm just looking at the scrollover the list of sponsors. You know,
Retirement fifty five kre see you gotemvery Federal Credit Union, the Fraternal
Order of Eagles. It just oneafter another after another, and God bless

(06:44):
each and every one of the sponsors. Because it costs on or flight tri
states six hundred dollars for each veteran, so costs can't add up, and
which means even if you're not aguardian, which will help defray the cost,
you can donate if you're a listenerright now that you know maybe can't
make a flight or can't make itout the CBG the welcome home rally or
the sendoff rally. You can stillhelp Honor Flight and these wonderful veterans do

(07:04):
this amazing trip by just making acontribution at Honor Flight triestate dot org.
So it's next, it's April sixteenth. You need everyone there April sixteenth,
all right for the welcome home.It needs to be there and checked in
by five am in the morning ifyou're gonna come. That's when the ceremony
starts, about five thirty am.And then at night we arrive at back

(07:25):
about nine. It takes us alittle bit of time to get you know,
one hundred and eighty nine people backinto the ratanda there, but it's
usually around eight to thirty nine.And there stands happening ahead of time too.
We have our merchandise sales, andwe have the Emerald Society comes out
and entertains the people. I thinkwe have an acquire this time too,
from the code to East, sothere'll be some things going on. Well,

(07:45):
everybody gets everybody riled up for theveterans' arrival, no question, it's
quite a party. It is that, and I know there's this If people
can't make the nine o'clock welcome home, there's a sendoff group too. You
could be there in the morning tosend the veterans off. And that's exciting.
And I know you agree with meon this, Cheryl. I just
want to make say it out loud. If you've got young people, uh

(08:07):
you know, the K through twelveyoung people will take them to the welcome
home side of that, well,you'd be surprised how many young kids now
are not taught anything about patriotivity.And when the parents bring them over there,
they're like, oh, you're areal that, you know, like
it's it's some kind of mystery becausethey they're all over the place everywhere in

(08:28):
our lives here, but they don'tteach them about it anymore. And it's
really sad. I give a lotof speeches at at you know, schools
and things, and I do everythingAmerican flag, we fool the flag,
we sing, we do everything.If they know the words the pleasure of
the Legions, untickled pink. Youknow, it's just such a mistake the
way they're everybody's being brought up rightnow. My grandchildren too, they fight

(08:50):
tooth and nails to be patriotic.People think they're nuts, and it's like,
come on, guys, this iswhy you can have a beautiful school
like you have in a beautiful life, but they forget where it all I'm
from. And that's ever since thebeginning, since Revolutionary War Americans. They
have fought for freedom and for usto he have a way of life like
we live now, and we can'tjust forget about that, so true,

(09:11):
skip on through our life like nobodydid you know we all did this?
No you didn't. This was alldone ahead of time and we're reaping the
benefit. Well, for all thebaby boomers out there, it's time to
atone for your protesting on college campusesand spitting on the American veterans. Show
up in the Honor Flight and thankthem for the wonderful with it wonderful job
they did. Yeah, definitely,And of course again bring the children.

(09:35):
You'll have an opportunity to speak tothem about service. They can meet the
veterans. And one observation that Ihad on one of my honor flights,
there was a large group of schoolage children in Washington, d C.
Not affiliated with the Honor Flight.They just happened to be there at the
same time that my first Honor flightwas. The veterans just were blown away
at the love shown by these kids, they just walk up to them because

(09:58):
they had their honor flight shirts onthem. Children would ask him questions and
shake their hands and it just blewthe veterans away. They were so just
excited that children took an interest inwho they were. Well they think everybody
forgot about them, and they reallyjust melt into their arms. You know,
can I hug you? Please?Can you sign this for me?
I mean, they're rock stars,and that's what we like to say on

(10:18):
these flights that we really do wantthem to feel like rock stars. You
have not a care in the world. Let us take them everywhere accolades,
you know, we take pictures everywhere, and we go to the Tomb of
the Unknown time and lay a reefjust you know, unbelievable amount of planning
goes into this so that they canjust relax on that bus and hit a
ball. So that's our whole goal. And thank you, thank you,

(10:39):
thank you, and I mean thankyou for your service. It's kind of
become a little bit of a clichenow, but when you say those words,
think about these kids. Not onlythat, but these were kids when
they went y were in nineteen andtwenty do you a twenty year old.
Could he fight anything? Oh mywords, can you save our world?
You know, it's a totally differentgroup. And they call I'm the greatest

(11:00):
Hanna Race and they weren't kidding.I mean, it's just amazing the way
they they got took care of everythingand now we have the good life.
So market on your calendar, folks. April sixteenth, eve this ship for
the sendoff ceremony or be there byat least nine o'clock for the welcome home
ceremony. You will not regret it. Honor Flight tri State dot org.
Cheryl will have you back on again. You got a flight May twenty second,
one on September seventeenth, and oneon October twenty third. There's your

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flight season for the year. Cheryl. Thanks for all the work that you
and all the volunteers and everyone behindthe scenes does for honor Flight tri State
on behalf of the American Veteran