New documentary highlights Honor Flight's surprising outcomes
Nov. 11—FARGO — No doubt many of you know about Honor Flight. Some of you have flown on trips to Washington, D.C., as an honored veteran or with a loved one who is. Maybe you volunteered or worked on the medical staff or with the media.
But the new documentary "Bridging Generations — Honor Flight from WWII to Korea and Vietnam," is shedding new light on one element of the trips (established nationwide in 2005 to honor veterans with a free trip to the nation's capital) that still brings a tear to my eye.
I've been talking about Honor Flight since I started working on the WDAY World War II Honor Flight project back in the fall of 2006. I've done countless speeches to service groups and schools and talked way too much about it to anyone who might happen to bring it up as we pass in the frozen food aisle of the grocery store. (I can only imagine how much ice cream melted in shopping carts as I waxed eloquent about the project I love, while some poor soul tried to get away from me).
I've watched as WDAY-TV has done award-winning news stories and documentaries on the local flights, now called Veterans Honor Flight of North Dakota/Minnesota. Forum Communications also put together a 10-year anniversary book in 2017. So on this Veterans Day 2023, you might think there is nothing new to be said.
I disagree. And rather than risk any more drawn-out conversations and melted ice cream I'll explain why here.
It involves one intriguing aspect of Honor Flight — an unexpected one for many of us who've worked on the project — that hasn't been talked about in great detail.
It starts with a story from an early flight in 2007. I get chills every time I tell it.
A man came up to me in the airport in Washington D.C. as we were waiting to get back on the plane to Fargo after one of our trips. He was on the trip as an escort for his dad, a WWII veteran, and was himself a Vietnam veteran.
He proceeded to tell me that while he and his father had a good relationship, they never spoke to each other about their time serving in their respective wars. He told me he felt he had to protect his dad from hearing about the horrors he faced, and his father was probably doing the same in trying to protect him.
But as they walked through the memorials that day, from the expanse of the World War II Memorial, alongside the lifelike statues of the Korean War Veterans Memorial and past the 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, something started to happen.
Their internal walls started to come down.
The man told me, with tears in his eyes, that he and his father started to talk about their respective war experiences. At first, they were tentative as they began to share stories of how scared they were, the bloodshed they witnessed and the friends they lost. As the conversation continued, they went deeper unveiling what had been hidden for so many years.
I'll never forget what he said next.
"It turns out we had eerily similar experiences," he said as he looked down and shook his head.
He told me until that day they had never talked so openly. The man said he couldn't help but think of the years wasted when they could have been there to support each other when the nightmares got too real, but at least they connected now before it was too late.
This wasn't the only story I heard like this. One daughter told me a few years after she flew with her dad that the last years of his life were the best. He was less guarded, more open and happier — the trip being the catalyst for emotional healing.
Others have written that their veteran mothers and fathers who went on the trip chose to be buried in their Honor Flight shirts or jackets.
When National Honor Flight kicked off its trips shortly after the construction of the World War II Memorial in 2004 and as WDAY (now Veterans Honor Flight) got on board in late 2006, I think those of us planning the trips expected a few things to happen.
We knew veterans might tell us they didn't deserve the accolades they were getting (they did). We suspected that they'd enjoy time spent reminiscing about their time in the service with other veterans and that seeing some of the memorials might stir up some strong emotions, both good and bad.
But I never expected to see how Honor Flight was helping build family bonds — deepening the connection between fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who were learning more about one another while pushing wheelchairs or taking photos.
When I stepped away from Honor Flight in 2017, Veterans Honor Flight was busy taking both WWII and Korean War veterans on the trips. Vietnam veterans were still waiting for their turn. I asked the group's leader Jane Matejcek to give me a call when Vietnam veterans started making up the majority of their travelers. After all, they deserved the same coverage we gave to the WWII and Korean War veterans when they started taking their local trips in 2007 and 2015.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed that call. But it came in the late summer of 2022. Jane and the rest of the board let videographer Ezra Van Den Einde and I come along on the next three trips to try and tell the story, not just about the Vietnam veterans being the newest travelers on the flights, but how for some, life had come full circle.
One of them was Paul Everson, a Vietnam veteran from Greenbush, Minnesota, who helped his WWII veteran father Jeff Everson on a flight in 2007. This time around, Paul was the honored vet who asked his son, Todd, who served in Iraq and Bosnia, to join him on the trip in September of 2022. It was moving to see
a second generation sharing stories and memories together.
Paul and Todd said Jeff was always in their thoughts.
We also profiled a delightful 94-year-old Bismarck man named Johnny Nagel who, as a newly drafted soldier back in 1952, had plans to meet up with a hometown buddy, George Jangula, after he realized they were stationed just a mile apart in Korea. They made a date for a Saturday but George didn't show up. He was killed on Friday. Johnny, together with his son, set out to honor George at the Korean Memorial.
We also spoke with Russ Stabler of Hunter, North Dakota. He didn't bring a loved one on the trip, but said he came to the wall to remember his Vietnam brothers who couldn't be there.
As Honor Flights inch closer to their 20th anniversary in 2025 and the travelers keep changing, the stories might too. On this Veterans Day, I hope you'll take a half-hour to honor and remember these WWII, Korea, and Vietnam veterans who've taken the trips over the last few years and perhaps dream about what's next for generations of veterans to come.
"Bridging Generations — Honor Flight from WWII to Korea and Vietnam" will be televised at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, on WDAY Xtra. This will not be on WDAY-TV's main channel.
Find WDAY Xtra on the following cable channels:
* Midco in eastern North Dakota: Channel 596
* Midco in western North Dakota: Channel 594
* Sparklight: Channel 1096
* For other cable providers, check local channel listings
DirecTV and Dish Network do not carry WDAY Xtra. Utilize another method to view the documentary.
Streaming:
The program will also be streamed online at
or you can
download the WDAY+ app
on your cell phone or smart TV.
