The weather was near perfect yesterday (6/18) for the arrival of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight from Milwaukee, WI. And what a welcome they received! Over 260 greeters came to Dulles Airport to greet both flights in the morning with another 80 greeters coming back for their return in the evening. A big THANK YOU to every individual, family, service organization, musical group, and other organization who made their greeting so special. Some comments that were heard from the greeters: “I’ve never seen so many veterans crying.”, “They all seemed so happy to see us.”, and “I never realized how moving it would be to greet the veterans.” From the veterans, one comment is especially poignant: “When I came home from Vietnam, I wondered what I did wrong since I was not welcomed home. Today, I finally feel like I’ve come home.”

With the completion of yesterday’s flight, we’ve entered the summer “break” for the flights. We will start again in August. Have a wonderful and safe summer and watch for news of the fall flight schedule. We can’t wait to see everyone again.

The Honor Flight at Dulles team

If you have signed up to greet the arrival or the departure of the veterans on any Flight this spring, you will receive a note from iadcoordinator@honorflight.org with instructions between 48 and 24 hours before the event.

THE IMPORTANT PART OF THIS MESSAGE — BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME, YOU WILL HAVE TO PRINT OUT A PLACARD TO PLACE ON YOUR CAR DASHBOARD. The lot where we will be parking — for free — is patrolled by the airport police. WITHOUT A PLACARD ON YOUR DASHBOARD, you risk getting ticketed or towed.

A map with directions will be included in that email.

Hello greeters!

The National Honor Flight Network has come to our aid with a new email system. It will shrink our current sending time from 5 days to instantaneous. Thanks National!!

However, you will now see messages coming to you from a new email address …

iadcoordinator@honorflight.org

You might see the first email arrive in your trash or junk mail folder in the next day or two. Please look for the email and flag it as “not junk”. Our old heroeswelcomeiad@gmail.com address will remain active for a while but please start responding to the new address.

Thanks for your patience as we go through this transition.

What a happy way to counteract what should have been a nice Spring weekend!! The signups to greet our Honor Flights for the 2022 spring season are now live! Please see our 2022 signup page HERE to sign up to greet!!

You will receive a confirmation form that you have signed up for the flight. It will be followed by an email confirmation. Don’t forget to tell us if you are driving so we have a parking chaser ticket for your free parking.

We can’t wait to see you at the airport in a matter of a few weeks!

It has come to our attention that some of the Honor Flight hubs have had problems with people posing as members of the hub soliciting funds which never get to the hub. This is yet another form of scamming. Please be aware that no one from the Honor Flight of Dulles team ever solicits funds for our operation. We are not a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and, as such, cannot solicit funds. If any person calls or emails you requesting funds, DO NOT GIVE! If you have any information about the requestor, contact your local police department.

We are taking a few moments to thank two of our heavy-hitting volunteers — Jennifer Jamison and Dave Benbennick.

Jennifer joined the Ground Crew in 2012 and has been the backbone behind our e-mail, website, and Facebook efforts, even after moving to Roanoke several years ago. All of those e-mail notices, sign-up lists, informational posts, and other communications that you receive have come via Jennifer. While her profession is not in the IT world, she self-taught the procedures for WordPress, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Facebook, and other tools necessary to keep us all informed. At times, it has been total chaos for her because of the complicated nature of the tools we use to keep you informed. She has performed all this effort while not being able to see the veterans she serves because of her distance from Dulles. Due to job demands and caring for her family, Jennifer has decided to step away from this role. We owe her many thanks for all of her efforts!

Dave has been known as OxygenMan to all of the Honor Flight hubs that come to Dulles and Reagan National airports. Since June of 2008, any veteran who needed oxygen during their visit to their memorials and for the flight home has had the support of Dave. He worked with the hubs to identify what type of oxygen supply was needed, handled the pickup and return of the bottles and concentrators, and ensured that no veteran missed his Day of Honor because oxygen was not available. He has put thousands of miles on his car, donated hundreds of hours of his time, and periodically purchased ice and water for the buses. For all of his efforts, we and all of the veterans he has served salute him!