"Never Forgotten"

Veteran’s Day is just a few days around the corner, and we at HonorAir Knoxville have spent some time reflecting on why we celebrate Veteran’s Day.  Whether your grandfather served in World War II, an uncle in Korea, a father in Vietnam or a daughter in Iraq, every generation has been touched by war.  American men and women fought and are still fighting to bring peace far away from our own soil.   Veteran’s Day is an opportunity for all Americans to thank those who have served our country.

Because I wanted to express my personal gratitude to all the men and women who have served our country and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, I initiated HonorAir Knoxville in 2007.  We chose to honor the veterans of WWII and the Korean War and our goal is to fly as many East Tennessee veterans as possible to Washington, DC to see the memorials built in their honor.  To date we have taken over 1200 veterans on this all expense paid trip.

These sample comments from a few veterans who have flown with HonorAir express the gratitude and emotion all our heroes feel about the trip and the return home to see hundreds of cheering people from the community who have come to say thank you.

Bernie Shorr writes “After 68 years, I now realize that the American public really does appreciate what we did.”

John Edds said, “The day was emotional especially the arrival in Washington and back in Knoxville.  When I came home from the war, there was no fanfare.  I had to hitchhike home to Claiborne County, so this homecoming reception meant so much.”

Raymond Shirley writes…”The welcome awaiting us upon our return to Knoxville moved me to tears.  When I was discharged from the Navy I was given a bus ticket home to Sheffield, Alabama.  I arrived unnoticed.”

Henry Freyre is escorted through the cheering crowd by his Guardian, Matt Strutner

We hope to continue to take these special flights and have another scheduled for April 18, 2012.  However, each flight costs $60,000 and we are very dependent on the generous donations of companies and individuals in East Tennessee to support the program.  This year we hope you will consider honoring a veteran for Veteran’s Day by sending a donation to HonorAir Knoxville.  We will send a special card to any veteran you choose to honor that acknowledges your generosity.  In addition, if any company or individual would like to honor a veteran or donate to HonorAir in lieu of sending Christmas cards or purchasing gifts this holiday we will provide you with special holiday cards or distribute them on your behalf.

Donations can be made online at honorairknoxville.com or mailed to 7536 Taggart Lane Knoxville, TN.  You will need to provide us with names and addresses of those people who should receive a card.  If you need additional information please call us at 938-7701.

Everyone involved with HonorAir Knoxville is grateful to have the opportunity

to spend time with these men and women who so willingly sacrificed so much for their

country.   We hope you will help us express our gratitude to our veterans.

A warm welcome for the veterans at Reagan International Airport in D.C.

The organization of the trip is often compared to the precision of a military operation.  It is true that planning a full day of activities in another city for 130 veterans and 40 volunteer escorts is a major undertaking.  And it could not be done without a very valuable team of volunteers.  We have been fortunate to have the same core team managing the trips since the flights began.  Today we’re highlighting three of those volunteers all of whom are retired military men.

HonorAir team reviews the itinerary

When we decided we wanted to initiate the program we talked to retired Air Force Colonel Joe Sutter to identify military organizations we should contact and help get us started.  He has served as our flight commander since the first flight.  Volunteering is a family affair for Joe and his wife Geri who have worked as a team securing the location for orientation before every flight, working with the Interact Club at Catholic High School to recruit students to help at orientation, organizing an Honor Guard for the sendoff, recruiting a photographer to take team pictures, organizing the welcome home party and recruiting our major financial donor.  And we couldn’t forget the tradition of singing service songs on the flight home led by Joe!

Joe Sutter and Guardians Jennifer Sutter (center) and Pam King (right) lead the group in singing military songs.

Joe recruited retired Air Force Colonel Charlie Harr to serve as a team leader for the first flight.  Charlie has been a team leader on each of our eleven flights.  The team leader position is a critical one on HonorAir flights.  All veterans and guardians are organized into four teams.  The team leader works with the guardians on the team to ensure they make contact with their veterans, get all the information required and have a ride to and from the airport on flight day.  While we are in D.C. we travel on four buses each of which is headed by one of our four team leaders.  One of their major responsibilities is to ensure that each time the team disembarks the bus throughout the day they return with the same number of people.

Charlie Harr is busy checking Veterans in at the airport.

Joe and Charlie together recruited retired Jim Cundall, who served in the Air National Guard and was Vice President of MEDIC before he retired.  Jim is really the heart of our operation, responsible for processing veteran and guardian applications and answering their questions.  He organizes the flight manifest and recruits veterans at the last minute should one of the registered veterans fall ill.  He travels to Chattanooga and Tri-Cities to orient guardians and veterans who cannot get to the Knoxville orientation.  There is probably not one HonorAir volunteer who spends more time on the project than Jim and he probably talks to every veteran who flies with us at some point.  Jim’s wife Nancy has also joined our volunteer team helping with team pictures on the day of the flight and organizing the welcome home party.

Jim Cundall helps a Veteran off the bus.

HonorAir is extremely fortunate that these three men decided to give back to their community and make a difference by working with our organization to honor our area veterans.  It’s another great example of the volunteer spirit in East Tennessee!

HonorAir Knoxville is proud of its founder and Chairman, Eddie Mannis, who was the recipient of this year’s PBS Be More Person of the Year Award. Eddie graciously accepted this reward, recognized our service men and women and expressed gratitude to the community for their support of HonorAir.

On behalf of HonorAir, thank you Knoxville for your support and to PBS for recognizing those that inspire us to Be More.

The following dates are confirmed for 2011 and are dependent upon funding:  April 13, August 3, Oct 5

On Dec 7, 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt exclaimed that this day ’will live in infamy’.  Oct 6, 2010 is a day many WW II Veterans from Tennessee will also remember.  It was on that day, 125 WW II Veterans were escorted to Washington DC visiting the WW II, Korean, Vietnam, Iwo Jima  (USMC), Naval, US Air Force, Jefferson, and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Memorials.

I was selected as a Guardian for this Honor Air Flight to escort: Seaman First Class, S/FC, Roy Adams (USN), Platoon Sgt. Jack Brobst (USA), PO/3C Bob Foster (USN), and Q/3C OD Harter (USCG) to Washington DC and return.

It all started at 6AM on Oct 6th at McGee Tyson Airport in Knoxville TN where the Leaders, Guardians, and Guides met with last minute instructions for this awaited day. After receiving instructions we assembled our Veterans gave them their welcome bag with memorabilia, Honor Air T- Shirt and Hat, Name Tag with emergency instructions and final departing information.   Eddie Mannis CEO, Prestige Cleaners and Chairman of Honor Air Tennessee, gave us our post flight briefing and some local speakers wished us well.  We were assigned to the Blue Team with Charlie Harr as our Leader.  Charlie is a retired Air Force Fighter Pilot and lives in Knoxville. There were four teams Blue, Green, White and Red that made up the flight. A total of 202 Veterans (125), Guardians (41), Medical Personnel (4), Guides (4) and others (28) traveled with us.  We departed at 9am from Gate 10, US Airways Charter Flight for Reagan National Airport (RNA).  We had 33 Veterans in wheelchairs and some on oxygen.  After a 1-1/2 hour flight we arrived at RNA and were met with a tremendous welcome of Military and Families, Airport Personnel and people who were traveling that got wrapped up in the festivities.  It was so heart warming and wonderful and the Veterans were really caught up in the moment.  Flags waving, music, handshaking, hugs and just a great welcome to Washington DC for this Greatest Generation.  We boarded charter buses by Teams and headed to Arlington National Cemetery and the Memorials.

Our first stop was the WW II Memorial for about an hour.  I had three of my Veterans pose for a picture at the entrance and then a soldier came up dressed in Scottish Kilts and played his bagpipe and Amazing Grace. Of course we all teared up as it was so beautifully done and we thanked the US Army soldier.  Then another soldier came up to the entrance area with his Bugle and commenced in playing Taps.  Now we all know what that did to all of us Veterans.  It not only gives you the chills while one is playing it but we also tear up again.  Hankies came out again and again.  I told my Veterans it is ok to cry because this is for you and it has taken us 65 years to get you to this place.  This Memorial is in your honor and this trip is our appreciation for your unselfishness, courage, and fortitude during WW II. The Veterans all stood at Attention during this salute to all Veterans living and dead. We went into the Memorial Courtyard area and walked around visiting with other Veterans from other buses. There were many radio and TV Stations interviewing our Veterans.  A man named “Gunner” of WIVK interviewed Adams and Harter.  The Courtyard area is made up of pillars representing each of the 50 States, Territories and District of Columbia. Many of our Veterans were visiting this site for the first time.  It was opened in 2004.  Over 50,000 WW II Veterans have visited the Memorials on Honor Flights in the last 3 years at no cost to the Veterans.  Our next stop was the Korean, Vietnam and Lincoln Memorials. We were treated to Park Police escorts, first-class service wherever we traveled. Our first stop on this segment was to the Korean War Memorial.  The expressions on the soldiers faces, their uniforms and their massiveness was just awesome.  Their anguish was evident on the sculptures and one could almost ‘feel’ that moment in time on the Korean 38th Parallel.  Other than their WW II Memorial, the Veterans real ‘felt’ the empathy the artist had when designing this Memorial.  The granite wall reflecting the battlefield and faces within caused them to pause and reflect while viewing it.  They touched the wall as if to talk to those who this Memorial represented.  One Veteran remarked, ‘ I can almost hear the battlefield noise and feel the cold’.  Many Veterans shed a few tears while reflecting at this Memorial.  I had mentioned, to my Veterans as I called them, that it was ok to cry…. it is time you did to rid yourself of your hurt.  I find myself tearing up just writing about their day being a Veteran from another war.

Because of time constraints we toured the Iwo Jima, (USMC) Mt. Suribacci, Memorial by bus. The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific.  Over 6000 US Marines died in that battle and later it was noted that this was the turning point in the war in the Pacific. The driver drove around the Memorial 3 times so we could experience this wonderful sculpture in all its grandeur and history.  We hope to be able to visit this Memorial again someday. Many of my escorted Naval Veterans had been involved in this battle prior to the Marines landing.

We drove to the US Air Force Memorial the highest point in Arlington overlooking the Potomac.  This site represents all those who fought and died in the Army Air Force and the US Air Force of today.  There are three Spires reaching skyward as you arrive representing three aircraft in flying formation.  The bronzed Airmen figures represent the various stages of the Air Force since 1947 and those who preceded our current Airmen.

Walking toward the Potomac overlook there is a granite wall embossed with words from a Sergeant Carl Goldman, a B-17 gunner, to his mother, .  ‘…am going on a raid this afternoon…there is a possibility I won’t return…do not worry about me as everyone has to leave this earth one way or another, and this is the way I have selected.  If after this terrible war is over, the world emerges a saner place… pogroms and persecutions halted, then, I’m glad I gave my efforts with thousands of others for such a cause.’

Sergeant Goldman’s plane was shot down over Western Europe that day.

As we drove around Arlington on our way to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier one of my Veterans, Platoon Sergeant Jack Brobst US Army, 334th Regiment, 84th Infantry Division, Company D, related a few of his experiences in the Western European Theater.  Jack was with the forces that landed on Utah Beach and fought at the Battle of the Bulge. On their trek across Western Europe they liberated three Concentration Camps.  He said it was difficult to talk about the atrocities they experienced but glad that their Division had a part in liberating those terrible camps. He marched across Europe to the Elbe River, Marseille France and beyond.  Jack was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters.  Jack indicated that it was very hard for him to talk about the war even after 65 years.  I could tell it in his voice that it was affecting our conversation and we went on to another subject.  After the WW II he met a nurse Laverne who became his wife.  They met during college and the rest is great history for the Brobst Family.  The committee fed us on the bus between stops and the Arby box lunches were tasty and filling.

While doing lunch and traveling through Arlington sightseeing I talked to another of my Veterans, Q/3C (Quartermaster 3rd Class) O. D. Harter.  OD was in the War from 1943-1946 on the same ship (USS Peterson DE-152).

OD crossed the Atlantic 22 times and the Pacific 3 times.  He observed the Germans subs sink three of our Merchant Marine vessels of which two were oil tankers (SS Pan Pennsylvania and the SS Jacksonville) They traveled through the Panama Canal to the Pacific stopping at Pearl Harbor heading for the Philippines to gather for the Invasion of Japan with the 7th Fleet.  OD was a Helmsman, Weather Observer, Fog Observer and being on a Coast Guard Vessel had little or no air protection in their travels.

Another of my Veterans was PO/3rd/CL Bob Foster USN, of Oneida TN.

Bob spent all of his time 1945-1946 in the Pacific also.  His tour was mostly in the Philippine Islands as part of the Amphibious Forces and on a PT 40.  Bob did a lot of jobs while in the Navy. He was a Signalman and worked with the Seabee’s.  He noted that while in the Philippines the people really supported the US Fleet and troops. The Japanese really tortured the Philippine people and left them dirt poor and homeless.  The US Forces liberated a whole chain of Philippine Islands.  His outfit was selected to be part of the A Bomb Mission should we need them.  Bob said he lucked out and got to stay in the Philippines.  No one knew what the mission was about since a great secrecy surrounded the fleet.

Another of my Veterans, S/FC Roy Adams USN, was another veteran of the Pacific Fleet.  Roy was assigned to the Aircraft Carrier USS Salerno Bay, which sailed from Portland Oregon and later transferred to the USS Mission Bay another Carrier in the Pacific.  He saw action in Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, Philippines, and Okinawa from 1944-1946. He was married to Ellen for 64 years who recently passed away.  Roy’s conversations with me were most memorable as the others and some things you just couldn’t talk about.  We had a local Radio Station reporter named ‘Gunner’ of WIVK, and he interviewed Roy and OD at the WW II Memorial as well as others.

When we arrived back in Knoxville at 8:30 PM after a long day we were met by thousands of people waving flags, thanking them for their service, congratulating them for being part of Honor Air.  We had many bands playing patriotic songs, their service hymns, and 1940’s music.  It was the most wonderful welcome home anyone would ever want and one they will never forget.  Thank you Honor Air of Knoxville one and all!!

Many of our Veterans did talk about their time spent in WW II but many didn’t and that is understandable. This day was a day of celebration of their victories, steadfastness, courage, sacrifices and their keeping the USA a Free Country.  We are truly the ‘land of the free and home of the brave’. I thank them one and all for their efforts and for being the ‘Greatest Generation’

William D. (Gus) Gocella

Gocella's Veterans in front of WWII Memorial

Want to help support our troops? The highlight of the day for these Veterans comes when they see the collection of people waiting for them at the gate, cheering and waving flags. For the most recent flight we estimated nearly 1,000 people gathered to welcome home these true American heroes. You don’t want to miss it! Join us at 8:00pm on April 13th in the main concourse of McGhee Tyson. It’s a truly moving experience you will never forget!

Before their departure the group was welcomed by Prestige Cleaners President Eddie Mannis, Mayor Bill Haslem, Mayor Tim Burchett, Congressman John Duncan, and Sam Buscetta, VP of Human Resources for Covenant Health.
The sightseeing agenda included a visit to the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam, Korean and Lincoln Memorials, the Air Force Memorial and a Changing of the Guard ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery. The group also enjoyed a bus tour of the Marine and Navy Memorials.

The veterans received a homecoming they will never forget as a record number of soldiers, family members, members of the community and churches cheered their return to Tyson McGhee Airport.

The 9th HonorAir Flight is tentatively scheduled for April 2011.

Download a press quality PDF of the above HonorAir Knoxville promotion and display where you wish to help us raise money for our next flight in October. We depend on the financial support of our community to make these flights a reality.

Click here for information on donating!

Above is a picture of Sam Hardman, a 90 year old World War II Technical Sergeant. Mr. Hardman has been with HonorAir Knoxville since the beginning and he is one of the reasons HonorAir Knoxville was founded. He is a member of Woodmen of the World, does work with Habitat for Humanity, feeds the homeless at the Food Pantry, and is a member of the East Tennessee Military Affairs council

Most of you know, sadly, that he had two heart attacks on June 23rd and was admitted to UT Hospital.

We have learned that he was released from the hospital on Saturday, June 27th. He is at home and is doing well. He has a lot of supporters and friends and we wanted to provide a way for you to send your get well wishes and cards to him.

Please send cards to:

HonorAir Knoxville – Sam Hardman
7536 Taggart Lane
Knoxville, TN 37938

You may also reply to the blog post with your get well wishes for Mr. Hardman.