Honour flights

ANDREW MCKEOWN
When in Washington D.C, members of the Irish Youth Times team interviewed volunteers of 'Honour flights Network', an organisation that flies American military veterans from their home states to Washington D.C to visit war memorials such as the Vietnam, Korean, Iwa Jima and World War 2 memorials as well as the grave of the unknown soldier in Arlington cemetary. One volunteer told us that 1,000 American war veterans die every day in the US. "the Honour flight network has carried over 63,000 veterans to D.C. and we give priority to WW2 vets or veterans who are terminally ill". All regiments are represented from the Army, Navy, Air force, Marine corps and army nurses corps. One veteran told us "It's very enjoyable and we're really treated well. I fought in World War 2 and I was attached to Merchant convoys and was positioned on the Isle of Man and later in France. A huge amount of the time was spent crossing from place to place on ships, with sometimes up to 30 days spent at sea at a time. There were scary times too but I was a lot braver then as I was young and energetic aged only 18." The Honour flight network is a not-for-profit organisation who operate with the help of donations. One volunteer told us she knew of one man who donated enough tickets to fill up an entire plane with veterans, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars.