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Film: Honor Flight (2012)

Director: Dan Hayes (First feature film)
Genre: Documentary (82 minutes)

“Every single day, 900 WWII veterans pass away…. They’re invisible to most of us. We talk about freedom, but we often take for granted what went into making us free.” In Port Washington, Wisconsin, we meet Joe Dean. His dad, a WWII veteran, died a number of years ago. He tells us how he noticed a small program called “Honor Flight.” They were taking WWII veterans to Washington DC so they could visit the WWII Memorial. But as he found out, the program was much too small, and WWII veterans aren’t going to be around that much longer. Dean was so moved, he found himself thinking, “They need more help. Someone ought to do this…. I ought to do this.” Dean works for IMB and applied some of his business savvy to the project. He first enlisted the help of a radio announcer, Charlie Sykes, and began raising money to expand the program. But it wasn’t until Joe Demler and Harvey Kurz got involved that the project started to take off.

If you google “Joe Demler Life Magazine,” you’ll see the Life Magazine cover… it’s a photo of Joe taken in 1945, the day his German prisoner-of-war camp was liberated. They called him “skeleton man.” Meanwhile, everyone who shops at Pick-n-Pay knows Harvey. He’s the one asking customers “paper or plastic?” He got a letter from Uncle Sam two weeks after high school graduation and ended up in the Iwo Jima invasion. He watched the guys plant the American flag, but he can’t talk about it without crying. So many of his fellow marines were killed before the flag could be raised. When Joe Dean asked Joe and Harvey to help him raise money by telling their stories, donations started pouring in. In 3.5 months, they were able to take 70 veterans to DC and treat them to the “welcome home they deserved.” They did such a good job publicizing Honor Flight that applications started pouring in… they really needed to step up their effort.

Today there are 105 Honor Flight hubs across the country, but time is running out. A lot goes into making the experience special for the aging veterans, as well as helping the families appreciate the veteran’s contribution. More often than not, family members have no idea what their parent or grandparent had done in the war. It’s a heartwarming story. Every time you think you’ve taken it all in, there’s another touching facet. (You’ll need plenty of Kleenex.) Even though you can probably guess where the story goes, it’s well worth watching. Of course, they also hope you’ll find a way to be part of the Honor Flight community. (And while we’re at it, it’s also worth remembering veterans of our other wars.) As you watch the movie, you’ll notice that many people are wearing hats that say, “Every day’s a bonus.” We learn that it’s what Joe Demler kept telling himself in the Nazi prisoner of war camp, as those around him were dying off. Joe’s spirit is what kept him going, even though he looked like he had already died. The Wisconsin chapter adopted Joe’s motto as their own, and Joe still believes it’s what kept him going.

3 popped kernels

Heartwarming documentary about the program to take WWII veterans to visit their memorial in Washington DC

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