Honor Flight: America, this is who we are

For 25-plus hours, I — and 28 Vietnam-era veterans — lived in the real America.

Not the United States we fight about, turning each other into enemies because we belong to different political parties or support different paths to the future. Not the one dominated by conspiracies and distrust and fear, where we're quick to presume bad intentions.

From 1:45 a.m. Saturday to 3:30 a.m. Sunday, I lived in the real America.

The America where we care for one another. We step in to help. We’re brave enough to acknowledge our past: the good and the bad. We chuck aside labels or, at least, we try to. We’re full of gratitude. We show respect to our elders and teach respect to our children.

We cherish what binds us rather than focus on what divides.

I was a guardian on a Space Coast Honor Flight whose mission is to take World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans to visit their war memorials in Washington, D.C. I was on Flight 73. To date, the nonprofit has taken 1,889 veterans to the capital, said retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Jim Hart, president of Space Coast Honor Flight.

Honor Flight Send-off: The 73rd Space Coast Honor Flight on their way to D.C.

To accompany our veterans as a guardian is an honor.

For me, it was also a reminder of who we — Americans — are. I don’t know about you but I sure needed that reminder.

Retired Judge David Dugan, a board member of Space Coast Honor Flight, warned me that I would likely be moved to cry during the experience. I didn’t realize, though, the tears would start for me before our team of 28 Vietnam-era veterans, 28 guardians and Space Coast Honor Flight board members and volunteers left the Wickham Park Senior Center to embark on our whirlwind journey.

I was paired with James “Tracy” Pittman Jr., a Vietnam War veteran with 21 years of U.S. Army service who had a special forces assignment in the Military Assistance Command Team 28 in Vietnam from 1971-73.

Tracy, a native of Alma, Georgia, speaks with a soft southern drawl. He's 79, incredibly modest but, let it be known, this man carried out multiple parachute jump landings. He's a tough guy, although Tracy would frown at me saying that.

As Tracy and I walked out the doors to board the bus, we moved through a corridor of applauding and cheering supporters .

Those cheers became a theme, repeated throughout the day and night. The TSA agents at Orlando International Airport. Passengers hurrying to their gate. Children in strollers. Students who gave up their Saturday to line the walkway into the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. A Vietnamese man who brought his two children to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to thank our veterans.

Again and again, people stopped to say: “Thank you for your service.” “Welcome home.”

Strangers gave a thumbs-up. They saluted. They smiled. They wanted to shake hands with our veterans.

It’s hard to put into words how proud you feel as an American to see this from your compatriots. I cried for Tracy and all the others, who told stories of what a different experience some of them had when they came home from the war.

28 Vietnam-era Veterans, including seven women

The 28 veterans on our flight included seven women. Our guardians featured nine firefighters: seven from Cocoa Beach, one from Palm Bay and one from Brevard County.

This special day began at Arlington National Cemetery, which felt appropriate: a reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made for our freedom. As we drove inside the cemetery, a swath of the green hillside dotted with white gravestones was pointed out to us — the tombstones there were closer to each other than is usual. The reason: This is the In Memoriam section. Those gravesites are for veterans who didn’t make it home, not even in death.

As the road continued rising, tombstones filled every bit of the grassy hillside.

Freedom isn’t free. I’d heard that cliché so many times and yet it ceased being a slogan for me there at Arlington Cemetery, witness to the very high cost.

Virtual Experience: New VR experience brings Washington, D.C., monuments to Space Coast veterans

Tracy wanted to see the resting place of Audie L. Murphy. I need to admit: I didn’t know who he was. When I mentioned the name to my 14-year-old son, he knew. Now I know, too: Audie Murphy was among the most decorated American soldiers in World War II. Tracy told me seeing Murphy’s resting place meant a lot to him. He was hardly alone; there was a line of people waiting to pay tribute to Murphy. We waited our turn.

Next came an honor that is hard to even put into words. Tracy and veteran Kay Robinson, who gave 16 years of service, were selected to help lay the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I got to participate alongside Tracy. As we moved out beyond the cordons and stood with the Honor Guard, I put my hand over my heart as taps played. Tracy saluted. I felt gratitude. I knew I was there only because of Tracy. Tracy was there because of his service to our country. We were all there to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

What America stands for

I’ve always felt my Americanness keenly. I think it’s because I lived for years overseas. Being an American became part of who I was in a way that doesn’t happen when you live only among other Americans. And, perhaps ironically, when I lived in Russia and Ukraine and traveled across the former Soviet Union in the early 2000s, I saw how my Americanness was often something aspirational.

Standing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the side of the Honor Guards, behind Tracy and Kay, I saw the foundation on which our American dream rests. I didn’t cry; I felt chills, the good kind.

Now lest you think I’m some Pollyanna, I’m not. As editor of this newspaper, I get the phone calls and emails. I hear the anger and nastiness. I know how divided we are and how toxic that division has become.

But this journey reminded me of what we stand for. Of who we are.

As we drove toward Arlington cemetery, our bus passed two trucks pulling parade floats — one a rainbow presumably headed to or from a Gay Pride event — I felt what could be more appropriate: a bus of veterans alongside a demonstration of the freedoms we hold so valuable. The freedom to be ourselves.

I’m not naïve; not everyone, even on my bus, I’m sure would see it the same way. We’re in a challenging time for America, and maybe that’s why this trip got to me so much. Why it made me feel so proud (and, yes, hopeful) for us, even though some of the memories reawakened for our veterans were not easy ones.

Tracy told me he’d always been most moved by the Korean War Veterans Memorial. Why? It was the expressions on the statues, he said. “It captures what it was like: the fear, the tiredness, the wetness,” he said.

I looked at the faces more closely than I would have otherwise.

By the time the day ended, we’d been awake more than 24 hours and visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, World War II Memorial, Military Women's Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial and the Air Force Memorial. I get tired just typing that list.

We were all exhausted.

But then, talk about a jolt awake. It was around 2 a.m. Due to delays, we were departing the Orlando airport for home hours later than scheduled. And yet as we walked off that plane, we were met by cheers and applause. We were serenaded by the sound of bagpipes. Outside the security entrance stood cheering families, including a Cocoa Beach firefighter with his children. They’d waited hours for our veterans to give them the homecoming they deserved.

“Welcome home.” “Thank you for your service.”

I didn’t even try to stop my tears that time.

America, that is who we are.

Contact Executive Editor Mara Bellaby at mbellaby@floridatoday.com.

How to Participate

Space Coast Honor Flight is always looking for veterans interested in making this very special trip. There is a waiting list but they continue to add names. For more information, go to spacecoasthonorflight.org. You can also email veteran@spacecoasthonorflight.org.

Volunteers and Guardians are also needed. If you're considering it, let me tell you: it's worth it. Go to spacecoasthonorflight.org for more information.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: America at our best: why Space Coast Honor Flight made me proud