ST. PETE, Fla. (WFLA) — The 47th Honor Flight out of St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport took off this morning.
With four honor flights a year, more than 3,400 veterans from the Tampa Bay area have now gotten to experience this adventure.
Based on who we spoke to from Tuesday morning’s group, it’s clearly not uncommon for military veterans to have interesting stories to tell.
“We did a lot of things, like putting fuel into a reactor,” Cpl. Marvin Leibson said.
“I helped develop the first T56 engine for the C-130 and it’s still being used today,” Senior Master Sgt. Fred Jenkins said. “That was in the 1950s.”
Seventy-seven veterans will have more life stories after today– the day they took an honor flight out of St. Pete to Washington D.C.
“I would like to see the statues of a lot of the great Americans that went before,” Jenkins said.
“Well, I would like to see Rickover’s grave because I worked for the nuclear navy for 30 years,” Leibson said.
“The World War II Memorial is the one I’m most interested in,” Cpl. Harry Demeza said.
The World War II Memorial is one of several memorials the vets will tour.
Arlington National Cemetary is the first stop on this day trip. Vets will get to see the changing of the guard.
“Oh gosh, it’s wonderful,” Demeza said. “It’s very exciting and I’m looking forward to it very much.”
It’s going to be a long 18-hour day, but these vets all seemed pretty happy to be a part of this experience.
They return around 8 p.m. Airport officials encourage the public to give a warm welcome home at baggage claim.
