Todays News

Marshall County veterans participate in Eastern Iowa Honor Flight

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Several local residents were invited to attend a one day excursion to Washington, DC on Tuesday, Sept. 15. The Honor Flight for military veterans was organized and conducted by the Eastern Iowa Honor Flight committee. This was their 60th Honor Flight, all of which have originated out of the Cedar Rapids airport. Their experience and expertise in this endeavor to give a respectful “welcome home” was superb. There were 89 veterans and their 89 accompanying guardians for this honor flight.

On this 60th Honor Flight from Eastern Iowa, the event included 43 service members from the Army, 14 from the Air Force, seven representing the Marines and 25 from the Navy.

Marshall County honor flight participants were Ed Siems, Marines; Ed Morrison, Navy; and Garry Brandenburg, Air Force. Each honoree had previously submitted an application for an honor flight and was just waiting their turn to be invited as space and time allowed. September

15th was our time. The purpose of these Honor Flights was to give overdue credit and appreciation for military service that may have been lacking when each service member returned home from active duty. The organizers for this Eastern Iowa Honor Flight never missed a beat in meeting and exceeding expectations.

The Honor Flight would take the veteran on this mission at no cost. Costs were covered by many local and corporate sponsors. Guardians, however, had to pay their way and felt honored to be able to assist their assigned veterans with any issues that may arise. Assisting with wheelchair or other mobility items were just on task. Visiting and assisting at each Washington, DC Memorial stop was part of the plan for the day.

Honorees met at the Cedar Rapids Airport at 5:15 am on Sept. 15 to a good crowd of people and check-in organizers. Tickets to board the aircraft were issued as well as an itinerary for the day at DC. Flight time to DC’s Reagan International Airport was about three hours. Tour buses met us curbside to begin the schedule of various military memorials. Arrival times and departure times were measured to the minute and on time. Tour guides were assigned to each bus to provide insight along our route and specific details about each place we would visit. They did an excellent job of providing background facts and information.

Our first stop was at the US Navy Memorial where all veterans were able to learn more about Navy service. Our second stop was at the WWII Memorial, a large outdoor circular series of monuments to each state with a water fountain feature at center stage. Here all the veterans lined up for a group photo, all proudly wearing their red shirts. While there they watched a military drill team from each service post the US flag and each service flag. The precision of the drill team members was well practiced and impressive.

Because many of the Honor Flight veterans were from the Vietnam era time frame, our third stop was special to them. Several veterans were from Korea as well as Vietnam. This third tour stop featured the Lincoln, Korean and Vietnam Memorials. Lincoln’s Gettysburg address is etched in stone on the inside walls of his monument. The long dark stone walls of the Vietnam Wall have the names of over 58,000 veterans from all services that lost their lives during this conflict. I was able to get an etching of the name Darwin L Judge, a Marshalltown service member who was one of the very last military personnel to die in Vietnam in 1975. The Korean Memorial features statues of Army and Marines soldiers advancing across an open field.

A special Marine Drill Team performance was provided while at the Lincoln Memorial. With exquisite precision, the rifle drill team marched to front and center, and conducted their routine in silence. The only audible portions of the performance were clicking heals, rifle postings, and quiet footsteps. Afterwards, the Honor Flight veterans were encouraged to visit informally with any of the drill team members.

Our tour stopped next at the Women’s Memorial, an excellent tribute to female service members over the decades who contributed in so many ways. The storyboards of their achievements were top notch and well illustrated with timely photos. From ground foot soldiers to pilots, K-9 handlers to nurses, and every other military function, women served and were remembered for their devotion to national duty.

Arlington National Cemetery was of course a must stop and see place of honor. Over 400,000 service members, and some family members of those service members, are buried at Arlington. At this legendary cemetery with its exquisitely kept grounds filled with white marble headstones all precisely lined up row upon row for as far as the eye could see, our tour bus was silent with respectful witness to the sacrifices they paid for our freedom. Our tour included a silent walk to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers and time to watch the Changing of the Guard. Twenty one steps by the guard in front of the tomb, then 21 seconds of pause at each end of his pathway, and 21 steps in return for another 21 seconds before doing the guard duty all over again. Each guard does this for one hour. A new guard comes on duty hourly, on each hour of every day and night, in all kinds of weather.

We watched the dignified Changing of the Guard in a precision military disciplined ritual led by a sergeant of the guards. Our tour group also was able to witness two wreath dedications by civilian family members. Complete silence was sustained by the attentive audience, most of which were Eastern Iowa Honor Flight veterans and guardians. I found this stop to be one of the most dignified and respectful places I have ever had the privilege to see, listen and learn of the entire trip.

Our last stop was at the Marine Memorial. This large statue features four Marines raising the US flag on the tiny island of Iwo Jima, a particularly bloody WWII battleground site. Marine Ed Siems was thrilled to be there, and as an avid photographer, he was not disappointed by numerous settings to compose his award winning images. Our tour group was served a very nice box lunch supper from Chik-Fil-A while at this Memorial.

A long day was now winding down as the tour buses passed the Air Force Memorial currently under construction, and then a pass by of the Pentagon to see the side of that building hit on Sept. 11, 2001 by a terrorist hijacked airliner. Arriving at Reagan International Airport, it was time to check in again for our return flight at night to Cedar Rapids. A long day found many of us tired and ready to rest a bit for the next three hours. However, the flight organizers had something else for the veterans, the Mail Call.

Mail Call is a unique thing in military services. Maybe once a week, or more, sometimes less, letters from home kept a veteran connected to familiar people such as parents, friends and other family members. Your name would be called as the stack of mail was slowly handed out by drill sergeants. A service member would be thrilled to have a brief time to be mentally transported back home. So it was with this Mail Call aboard our Honor Flight aircraft. Every veteran received a packet of goodies and many thank you notes and/or letters.

As I went through my notecards and letters, I was grateful for the expressions of thanks from my own family and close friends. Their positive comments were appreciated. I was particularly moved by handwritten letters from grade school kids. Their teacher assignments must have been interesting as teaching moments about freedom in America and servicemen and women who answered the call. My thank you goes out to all of those children, who hopefully at some time in their future may find the courage to also enter military service.

Finally, the aircraft landed at Cedar Rapids at about 9:30 p.m. (2130 military time). As we filed off the aircraft, the flight crew gave us a big Thank You greeting. And then, a big surprise as the hallways were filled with current military members, police and sheriff’s officers, and a terminal full of civilians! A tour guide estimated the crowd at about 1,000 people, young and old. All the veterans shook hands with eager folks who welcomed us back home. Those were emotional moments indeed. We were back home…with honor.

Thank you very much to all the organizers, sponsors large and small, and every behind the scenes participant in the Eastern Iowa Honor Flight. You did an outstanding job for veteran appreciation.

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Footnote: My guardian during this Honor Flight was my son Craig Brandenburg, himself a retired Air Force veteran having served 30 years from 1988 to 2018. He retired as a Chief Master Sergeant and now lives at Fort Walton Beach, Fla. His task during this flight was to bring

along the 48 star flag from his grandfather’s co-op service station at McCallsburg. In 1959, the 48 star flag came down the flag pole, and a 50 star flag went back up. Alaska and Hawaii joined the Union. In 1988, freshly graduated from Marshalltown High School, Craig enlisted in the Air Force. His grandfather Robert “Bob” Ruble gave the old 48 star flag to Craig.

Craig took this flag all over the world during his 30-year military career, and each flight or significant deployment had flight crews document the date and mission the flag flew in a military aircraft. The flag has seen over 150 hours of combat missions, and many other excursions over the years. One of its last flights was over McCallsburg to drop a candy bar and a brief message about the 48 star flag that little city once witnessed.

Craig’s daughter Caitlyn, now serving in the Air Force herself, is carrying on the tradition of obtaining more new 48 star flag adventures and documentation.