Sedona resident Lenore Hemingway, a retired U.S Air Force lieutenant colonel who took park in Operation Desert Storm, gave a presentation on her experiences volunteering with the Honor Flight Network to SedonaKind on Friday, Oct. 20, at the Sedona Public Library.

“Honor Flight Network was created in 2005 by Jeff Miller and Earl Morse with a simple, yet powerful mission — honoring our nation’s veterans by bringing them to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials built to commemorate their service and sacrifice,” Hemingway wrote in her presentation. “While initially focused on America’s World War II veterans, Honor Flight Network has expanded its mission to include those who served during the Korean War, the Vietnam War and veterans of any service era who are critically ill.”

“I’m still processing [the experience],” Hemingway said. “Last week, when I was home in New York, they were doing their last honor flight of the season, because they don’t do it in the wintertime. It brought back all the feelings, emotions and memories again.”

The network provides free trips to 22,000 veterans annually and over 260,000 since the organization was founded. Hemingway noted that the hundredth trip from Arizona this year took place last month.

Trips are facilitated by escorts called guardians who pay their own way and also defer part of the costs for the trip, and who assist participants with mobility and other issues during the trip.

“If you should decide to volunteer as a guardian, you need to realize that it is a lot of work pushing those wheelchairs up and down ramps and on those cobblestones at the Vietnam Memorial,” Hemingway said. “It took every bit of my energy to push some of those folks.”

A typical trip departs on a Tuesday, involves visits to memorials on Wednesday followed by a late dinner at an area military base and returns on a Thursday.

“The East Coast [participants] do all of this in one day,” Hemingway said. “They leave at 4 a.m. in the morning, do the memorials all day, get home about 11 o’clock at night. It’s grueling for the veterans as well at their age and some of their health issues. But they want to go and I’ve not spoken to one who didn’t say it’s the greatest thing that ever happened to them.”

Hemingway spent almost 27 years in the U.S. Air Force after enlisting right out of high school. After going to college at night and receiving her commission, she spent the next 20 years as a nuclear munitions officer before moving to Sedona full-time in 2006.

“When you have the opportunity to speak with people who [served] in a war, and then experienced coming home and did not get a lot of recognition or appreciation, they tell you stories that you would never hear otherwise,” Hemingway said. “How people lost their best friend and how they were able to continue on after that and still support the country and the patriotism they have was life-changing.”

The program resonated with SedonaKind member and former Alaska Airlines flight attendant Pam Hollenbach.

“I’ve worked a couple of these flights from Seattle to D.C. and this is a big deal,” Hollenbach said. “The entire airport is involved and recognizes what’s happening and the announcements are made, bands are there, it’s unbelievable. And on the airplane, everybody here is clapping, standing up, saluting. These men finally feel after so many years of probably sacrificing and then being forgotten. All of a sudden they feel recognized, loved and appreciated. It’s a really big deal, and it’s amazing.”

“I was very blessed,” Hemingway said. “I had the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C., on multiple business trips for the military. So I had that opportunity to see the memorials. Many of these veterans never had that opportunity. They didn’t have the money or the ability to get to. It’s an amazing opportunity to help provide to people who deserve it. If people are interested or were not aware of it and would like to volunteer, too, please go on the website, read about it and see if they can help in some way.”