Typically, Honor Flights take veterans to the nation’s capital departing from, and returning to, civilian airports on commercial airliners.
And second: The opening of the 445th’s campus on Wright-Patterson’s Area A for a concert and a celebratory welcome for the veterans when they return home on the evening of Sept. 21 will mark the first time in years that the base has been opened to civilians (other than the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force).
Muha expects a long, emotional day for veterans and their families.
“There won’t be, I don’t think, a dry eye in the place,” Muha said of the moment when veterans return to Wright-Patterson.
It’s a way to thank veterans, many of whom served in the Vietnam era, such as Muha’s late father, Thomas.
The idea was borne from efforts to reschedule a 2023 Honor Flight that had been cancelled.
“I said, OK, let’s look and see if this is possible,” Muha told the Dayton Daily News. “I think it would be really neat, tying in the current active-duty and Reserves, that community partnership, and showing these veterans that they’re not forgotten.”
Muha said he was never able to accompany his father on an Honor Flight. But he’s looking forward to taking the trip with his father-in-law, a Marine who served two tours in Vietnam.
In a sense, both his father and his father-in-law inspired the idea for Operation Honor, Muha said.
“We get to show thanks to these veterans, especially the Vietnam veterans, giving them the return that they didn’t get so many years ago,” he said.
Al Bailey, the volunteer president of Honor Flight Dayton, said the Honor Flight mission has flown about 7,000 veterans from the Dayton area since 2005 to D.C.
This trip will be special, he said. It is not only the first military Honor Flight, but quite possibly the only one, Bailey said.
“This one has become extremely important for us,” he said.
Included in this trip will be a World War II veteran from Columbus who is 108 years old, Moses Eldridge, believed to be Ohio’s oldest living veteran, Bailey said.
“We’re going to take care of him,” he said.
A busy weekend
The agenda for the weekend of Sept. 21 is packed.
On Sept. 19, one of the wing’s nine C-17 aircraft is scheduled to be rechristened the “Spirit of the Hanoi Taxi,” in remembrance of the C-141 Starlifter that flew the first American prisoners of war to freedom from Hanoi, North Vietnam, in early 1973.
The original “Hanoi Taxi” has been housed in the fourth hangar of the Air Force Museum since December 2015.
Sept. 20 will be a big day. That morning, one of the 445th’s C-17s and a KC-135 (out of Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base) are scheduled to fly over the starting line opening ceremonies of the Air Force Marathon.
That evening, a dinner will be held for veterans and invited guests at the Air Force Museum. Reserve Maj. Gen. Ed Mechenbier — who was once attached to the 445th for flying purposes — has been invited to speak at the gathering.
Mechenbier was the Air Force’s last Vietnam-era former prisoner of war still serving when he retired in the summer of 2004. (His last position was mobilization assistant to the commander of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson.)
Mechenbier is also slated to present medals to runners finishing the marathon on the morning of Sept. 20.
Early Sept. 21, a Sunday, veterans and their accompanying guardians will board two C-17s at Wright-Patterson for the 75-minute flight to Joint Base Andrews near the nation’s capital.
They are scheduled to return to Wright-Patt at about 9 p.m. that evening, in time for the final performer of the concert on the 445th campus, Lee Greenwood. Some 13 food trucks are expected to be on hand.
“Nobody can seem to remember when Wright-Patt has been open to the general public,” Muha said.
“This is a big weekend for the Dayton area,” Bailey said.
The concert is free and the public is invited, but attendees need tickets. Tickets can be acquired at the “tickets” link at www.eventsprout.com/event/operation-honor.
As of Monday, all tickets had been accounted for. However, Muha said he and his team were working to make available an additional 100 or so tickets.
Off-base parking is available. Security screening and busing to the base will start at 3 p.m., Sept. 21, at the Skyway Shopping Plaza in the 1100 block of Kauffman Avenue in Fairborn, with the concert starting at 5 p.m.
About 3,000 people are expected to attend.
Honor Flight is reimbursing the Air Force for the cost of the flights, Muha said.
Nationwide, the Honor Flight Network has flown more than 200,000 veterans of all services to visit Washington and other memorial sites, often on weekend outings.
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