They come for breakfast. But they leave with the company and friendship of other veterans

Steven Mayer, The Bakersfield Californian
Updated ·2 min read
5

Jul. 6—It was the morning of Oct. 26, 1966 and Jim Harlander was serving off the coast of North Vietnam aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany, when a deadly fire erupted.

The smoke and flames raced through five decks, killing 44 men, many of them veteran combat pilots who had flown sorties over Vietnam just a few hours earlier.

"He never talked about it," said Jim's wife, Gay Harlander.

Then in 2018, the U.S. Navy veteran joined Honor Flight Kern County's flight No. 34 from Bakersfield to the nation's capital. With his granddaughter, Amber Nicks, as his guardian, the two were able to trace the names of most of his shipmates, the men who were lost that day nearly six decades ago from the names engraved on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

When Jim Harlander returned home, something had changed. And after he and Gay shared a second trip back to Washington, D.C., he was better still.

"He never talked about it until he came back. Even then, he didn't talk about it much until he came back from our trip," Gay Harlander said of her husband, now 80.

Honor Flight Kern County founder Lili Marsh and other Honor Flight volunteers have heard similar stories from veterans' families and loved ones countless times. Most come back, they say, changed for the better.

Jim and Gay Harlander joined hundreds of Honor Flight Kern County veterans, family members, supporters and volunteers Thursday morning for the monthly Honor Flight Breakfast at the Elks Club in downtown Bakersfield.

Besides the sausage, scrambled eggs and coffee, there were announcements of fundraising successes. Without fundraising, and without the generosity of individuals and local businesses, these flights, nearly four dozen since the first one in 2012, could not happen.

The Veteran Family Band, which volunteers to perform at numerous veteran-related and patriotic events throughout the year, were thanked and honored for their long history of volunteerism.

Since its first flight in 2012, the all-volunteer nonprofit has flown nearly 2,000 veterans to the nation's capital. They receive a hero's send-off in Bakersfield and a hero's welcome in Washington, D.C., where they take guided tours of the memorials, including the World War II, Korean, Vietnam, Lincoln, Women's, Navy, Marine and Air Force memorials. They also witness the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.