Honor Flight Dayton is hoping the greater Dayton community wants to thank U.S. military veterans for their service in a personal way – by greeting them after they visit their memorials Sept. 8 in Washington, D.C.
The group is escorting more than 110 World War II, Korean, Vietnam and terminally ill veterans on the third date of its 2018 schedule. Honor Flight Dayton’s organizers are requesting that hundreds of volunteers participate in welcoming them home as they return to the Dayton International Airport late that evening.
“We are always grateful for your help in welcoming our veterans home from these trips,” said Glenn Greet, one of the “greeting” organizers and an employee at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. “We have only two flights left this year, on Sept. 8 and Oct. 27, and one RVC trip, so don’t miss your chance to welcome them home and to put an exclamation point on a day that means more to these heroes than you can possibly imagine.
“Our purpose, as active/retired military, Department of Defense civilians, friends, family and free people, is to make sure these veterans know that we’ll never forget what they did for us, and that they never forget how we feel about them,” Greet said.
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The HFD return flight’s arrival time is scheduled for 9 p.m., but to be in the gate area when the plane arrives, greeters must follow a number of procedures. Those steps include obtaining a gate pass by showing a form of identification to the American Airlines ticket counter and processing through the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint before 8 p.m. The ticket counter may close promptly, even if people are in line. American Airlines is performing a great service by staying open, Greet said, so HFD organizers request that greeters be early.
Representatives and Honor Flight board members and volunteers will be in the gate area with instructions and information, and they will be available for questions. Ticket counter representatives will indicate the flight arrival gate.
It’s requested that military participate in uniform. Civilians, friends and family members are encouraged to wear patriotic attire. Enthusiasm, cheering and sign waving are appreciated.
Greeters may attend the reception in the ticket counter area after the veterans deplane and process through security. It is recommended that greeters arrive there by 9 p.m.
Honor Flight RV trip
Greeters also are needed Sept. 23 at 5 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Dayton/Fairborn I-675, 2800 Presidential Drive, as an RV with Honor Flight participants arrives, Greet said. The RV trip is for veterans who cannot or are unable to fly.
Greet is the point of contact at 937-705-5034 and ggreet-hfd@woh.rr.com.