CINCINNATI — Honor Flight Tri-State kicks off its 21st season Tuesday morning at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, taking local veterans on a free trip to Washington, D.C. to see the memorials built in their honor.
The organization has taken about 7,800 local veterans on flights since it began. Nearly all the veterans on Tuesday's flight served in Vietnam.
"The vets are excited," Chairman and Executive Director Cheryl Popp said. "All the ambassadors are excited. The guardians are excited. So that's why the spring one is so important is to kick it off on the right foot."
WATCH: We talked with Honor Flight Tri-State ahead of its 21st season
This year, the organization is expanding its Combat Veteran Empowerment Team, or C-VETS. The program sends younger combat veterans in their 30s and 40s who served in Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan to act as guardians on the flights.
Organizers said these younger veterans saw horrific battles and may have their own trauma, making them uniquely equipped to connect with older veterans.
"You've got a 40-year-old guy and an 80-year-old guy, so you got grandpa, grandson," Tom Popp said. "There's a certain dynamic. Grandpa can say things to a grandson that no one else can. They had the same experiences. They served in the same branch of service that may have been Marines or Air Force or Army, and they talk all day."
The flight leaves at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. When the veterans return Tuesday night, they will be greeted by a welcome home celebration at the airport, with up to 1,800 people expected to attend.
Organizers said the welcome home is especially meaningful for Vietnam veterans, many of whom never received one when they returned from the war 50 years ago.
"They've never been welcomed home," Cheryl Popp said. "So many have so much trauma from that, and so many have told us back that, you know, this is 50 years in the making, but this is the welcome home I was hoping I got."
While visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, those who do not know anyone on the wall are encouraged to touch an engraved name and say it out loud, honoring those whose families have never been able to visit.
The group also carries an internment flag from a World War II veteran who passed away before he could take his scheduled Honor Flight. The flag has accompanied veterans on 95 flights.
"All we know is we're Americans, and we're all in this together, and we really want them to feel the love that we all have, not knowing what they've been through," Cheryl Popp said. "Really all we can do is listen."
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