WWII MEMORIAL: Jewel of the Mall

Canton Akron and Elizabeth Dole

Just as I had herded all the Canton Akron cats into my frame, along came Mrs. Dole tothrow some light on the image. She has taken over for Senator Dole and her presence is as large as his. She is ever gracious and has a empathy with people that is stunning to experience.  We made some pictures of her today for a museum exhibit on her accomplishments which are significant!  She’s been a good friend to Honor Flight and is currently spending a lot of time with America’s Wounded Warriors.

I should mention here that I am moving the WWII Memorial blog from Typepad over to my WordPress site to see if I can work out some “continuity.”  I may keep both hosts for a bit so the blogs don’t get lost too quickly.  Have a look at some of the events that have occurred over the past seven years!

 

Honor Flights 5/22/2012

Chicago, Arizona, Columbia and Myrtle Beach, SC and North West Ohio Honor Flights were in town today as was Jim McLaughlin, President of Honor Flight and Susan Barr traveling with Arizona.   The predicted stormy weather held off all day and other than a bit of humidity, my trip to the Memorial was absolute karma– A cure for my blues where you will find George Kerestes, Al Doehner and a cadre of people interested in “giving.”  Pretty phenomenal experience in every way.

As usual, I took a few snaps which are available for free download on the photo storage site where there are now over 25000 images stored from the last five or six years of photography.  All of the Honor Flight folders are dated if you are looking for information and it is “keyword searchable” which I have found invaluable with my ever shrinking personal “database.”

As we arrived, some first graders from Glebe School were lined up to greet the North West Ohio Honor Flights and so the day began with one incredibly nice thing after another happening.  All the flights had wreaths, NW Ohio had a tent which was cool and shady and someone gave Jim McLaughlin a check for a $1000.00.  There was another busload of employees from a tech company who were volunteering and had “just heard about the flights and decided to show up”.  Mary Pettinato as usual did up the town with a great ceremony which John Bonk and I both photographed.  So enjoy the photographs and thanks to all of you volunteers and veterans for a great day!

 

Honor Flight numbers are IMPRESSIVE ... Congratulations to all!!!

I received these numbers from Jim McLaughlin and I think that all the Honor Flight volunteers deserve great praise, ovations and a terrific Holiday Season.  Through rain, delays, departures and hot and cold days, you have all participated in an extraordianary piece of American History!  Congrats!

Please find the attached information to reflect totals for the 2011 Flying Season:

 -Veterans Flown in 2011: 18,055
-Guardians Flown in 2011: 13,893
-Combined Total in 2011: 31,948

And Since the inception of Honor Flight in May, 2005:
-Veterans Flown since inception: 81,348
-Guardians Flown since inception: 39,184
-Combined Total since inception: 120,532

"Heroes Welcome" begins transporting veterans

Lona Ichikawa has taken on a new role with Heroes' Welcome the organization that traditionally welcomes WWII Veterans to the BWI, Reagan and Dulles Airports. They are transporting their first bus trip from Northern Virginia.  The buses depart from American Legion Post 177 in Fairfax on October 2, 2011.  If you would like to be a guardian, you can get in touch with Lona through the Heroes' Welcome website.  They were recently given some press by the Vienna Connection and a lot of support from local volunteers.

"WWII Memorial: Jewel of the Mall" book Information for Hubs

You can find information on the latest edition of the books and the discounts available to Honor Flight and other veterans groups at a new page on the blog which also details information on obtaining photography for your public relations and fund raising.  I have also included a few photo tips.

Welcome to the season!  

Gail Sparrow of Honor Flight Fayette reports that they are giving out books to veterans that can't make the trip.  As the author, I would like to see every WWII Veteran in our country get a book as a tribute to his or her service.  

A Custom book on the WWII Memorial and Honor Flight

Here's a custom book too expensive too distribute except electronically so have a look for FREE!!!  Thanks again to HBO, American Airlines, Spielberg, Hanks, Dole, Morse, Miller, McLaughlin and all who took part for a rousing start to the Honor Flight New Year!  It was definitely very cool!

Honor Flight Summit 2010

 Honor Flight is holding a Summit at the BWI Hilton for all of the regional hubs.  It starts on Friday and winds down on Sunday. There will be lectures on starting an Honor Flight, non-profit status, safety procedures, fund raising, etc... and a great opportunity for old friends to get together. I am very much looking forward to it.  It will also be a chance to show off my new DC PHOTO BOOK.

War of Our Fathers

  
In 1990, Richard Marin, an incredibly talented photographer and Stephen Ambrose, the famed historian and writer, traveled the Pacific documenting wrecks in the jungle, in the sea.... the tunnels in Corregidor, etc....  The resulting book "War of Our Fathers" was financed by Kodak's Ray DeMoulin a generous patron of the photographic arts (which Kodak used to be) sponsored not only this project but others like "Odyssey:  The Art of Photography at the Geographic", "Indelible Images:  One Hundred Years of War Photography and Richard Avedon's retrospective.  The photographs are done in a mixture of infrared and it looks to me like Kodachome.  If you are looking to buy a special gift this season, I've seen the book as low as $38.00 early December 2009 and last Summer got four copies from $3.00 to $7.00 but that was "a bargain."  If you are vaguely interested in WWII or photography, this book is something you should see.  I'd also like to mention Lance Akers of Minnesota and North Dakota fund raising fame for mentioning the book to me.  Lance is out there doing good....which seems to define a lot the Honor Flight/Air group.

800 Veterans and eleven hubs

And so if you were wondering where I've been in the past few weeks, I've been working on my latest book on DC and saving my energy up for today when 800 veterans plus guardians...a total of probably 1200 plus assorted military personnel, motorcycle police and riding groups, mounted police, guardians, school kids and relatives all gathered at the Memorial today.  It wasn't quite Woodstock but it was close and as Honor Flight has become more well known, the number of folks who come out to greet the veterans is larger and today's beautiful weather brought out EVERYONE.  

I am looking forward to the rest of the Honor Flight season as the book is on deadline.  The photos from today are at the Honor Flight Photo website.  As you can see from the contact sheet below, it was a great day for photography, family and celebration of our heroes.  It was just announced that there will be a plaque honoring Senator Dole put on the Memorial.  To say that it's well deserved is to understate the case.  

 
 

Going...going...gone

"Jewel of the Mall" is out of stock for quantity purchases until January/February 2009. I have kept a few hundred to fulfill signed orders for the holidays. The new edition will have a few new pictures, sewn seams for a better binding and better quality paper stock. 

Prints from the book are always available and the site will remain online so that you can still preview the Memorial in its finest light. I will continue documenting the Memorial and the Honor Flight operation and am looking forward to having a couple of photo volunteers join me this Saturday.

I got a nice note from Rebecca Seward from Colorado which I would like to share with all of you who have volunteered for Honor Flight. It sums up the reasons we all have for working with Honor Flight.  She said:

"As I am sure you have known for a long time doing anything with these. WWII veterans is an honor and priviledge.  My Dad served in the. Phillippines. He would have loved the. Memorial but it was not finished before he passed.  It is so special to be able to be a part of experiencing it with other veterans.  Many of the veterans on our honor flights of. Sept 23-24 have called and written to tell us how much they love your book and sharing it with their families and friends.  Thank you.  See you again in. April. -Becky. Seward."