Just saw mom off on her Honor Flight.
WWII Navy nurse. She has always been so humble, "I was just a stateside nurse." Her husband may have been the Pacific island-hopping doctor action-figure who she married to cure his shellshock, but she was "just a nurse". So I was so glad to get her on the Honor Flight. "You're a Veteran of the United States Navy, mom!"
My brother got the coin-toss to accompany her as "guardian". We registered her at the Honor Flight tables in the Columbia South Carolina airport lobby at 6am, for the 8am flight, so there was lots of picture time. The lobby was filled with colored jackets to distinguish the groups by war, and which bus they will ride. A veteran biker group provided flag escort of about twelve flags that they would line up first here, then over there. The men took mom right in, putting her in the center of their flag formation picture which included about fifteen veterans at a time that could fit in the picture. They kept swapping out with other men for more veteran pictures, while leaving mom in the middle of the flags for the next picture, and the next. So many WWII hats!! There must have been a hundred veterans of WWII and Korea along with a bunch of Vietnam veteran hosts. It was so amazing just seeing them off. Unsuspecting passers-by stopped to catch their breath and offer a brief chat and deep respect and love to all the veterans, black, white, purple haze, whatever. Finally the biker veterans lined up their flags in a Path of Honor, through which the veterans and their guardians were escorted through the security gate to their flight.
So often when you talk with these veterans, whether on the street or waiting on their Honor Flight, on those occasions that sometimes gently broach the nature of their service, they almost always say;
"I was just maintenance."
"I was just a paratrooper."
"I was just a ship's cook."
"I was just a clerk-typist."
"I was just a pilot."
"I was just a grunt."
"I was just a nurse."
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Big hugs to your mom. "Thank you" is not enough but it is all I've got. They all served their country. They all loved their families and their comrades. They gave all of themselves. I say a heart felt THANK YOU.
