The crowd begins gathering before the veterans arrive. Families wear red, white, and blue and carry handmade signs. Service organizations take their places. Strangers offer flags to anyone who came empty-handed.
Then the music starts.
“When the veterans arrive, you get to see the surprise on their faces,” volunteer Alexa Rushing says. Waiting for them are not simply rides home, but children, grandchildren, friends, and hundreds of Central Texans ready to cheer.
“I could actually cry just thinking about it,” she says.
That homecoming is the final chapter of what Honor Flight Austin calls a “Trip of a Lifetime,” taking veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit memorials honoring their service at no cost to them.
For retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Pat Hall, the organization’s mission comes down to four words: honor, respect, healing, and gratitude.
Pat knows something about service. A University of Texas student who joined Navy ROTC because he wanted to fly, he went on to pilot F-14s and F-18s, command the USS Seattle and aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, and become a rear admiral during a 32-year Navy career.
His introduction to Honor Flight Austin came years later, when he and his wife served as guardians for a 98-year-old World War II Marine veteran they affectionately called Uncle Jack. Pat returned from the experience hooked. He joined the honorary board, then the board of directors, and eventually became chairman.
For many Vietnam-era veterans, the public recognition can be especially meaningful. Pat recalls watching veterans cry as travelers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport stopped to applaud and thank them for their service. Many returned from Vietnam to hostility or indifference rather than gratitude.
“They never got that reception when they came home from Vietnam,” Pat says.
Rushing, who began volunteering alongside her son after hearing about Honor Flight through their Young Men’s Service League chapter, sees that impact from the community side. At pre-flight sessions, she has watched volunteers prepare veterans for the tightly orchestrated journey and met the nurses and EMS personnel who help care for them.
At the homecomings, the mission becomes personal.
“You start to see tears in the eyes of everyone who knows what it was like to miss their loved ones who were once deployed,” she says.
She believes welcoming Vietnam veterans now carries particular significance.
“I can only imagine how damaging that was psychologically for those veterans at the time,” Rushing says, “and how healing this type of reparation would be for not only them but their entire family.”
Healing is something Pat sees repeatedly. Veterans visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, and memorials honoring individual military branches. But some of the most meaningful moments come simply from being together. Veterans swap stories they may not have shared in decades, sometimes opening up about experiences their families have never heard.
Convincing them to go can be another matter.
Pat estimates roughly 75% initially hesitate. Some believe they did nothing exceptional. Others think Honor Flight is only for those who saw combat.
“This has nothing to do with you being in combat,” Pat says. “This has to do with having earned this recognition.”
Honor Flight Austin relies on volunteers, guardians, sponsors, and donors to make that recognition possible. Veterans pay nothing. Pat says a typical flight costs about $80,000, making community support essential.
November offers another opportunity to help. Honor Flight Austin will hold an all-day KVUE telethon on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, followed that Friday by its longtime KLBJ fundraiser at Lamb’s Automotive in North Austin. Donations can also be made year-round through Honor Flight Austin’s website, where prospective volunteers and guardians can sign up.
For those unable to volunteer or donate, Pat suggests something simpler: Show up. Thank a veteran. Ask about their story.
Because sometimes giving back begins by making sure someone finally receives the welcome home they deserved all along.
To learn more about Honor Flight Austin, please visit www.honorflightaustin.org.
“They come back with that healing and that recognition that Americans care about them, and they care about their service.”
“You start to see tears in the eyes of everyone who knows what it was like to miss their loved ones who were once deployed.”