By Barbara Augsdorfer, Editor for the Effingham Herald

An overnight bus ride from Parris Island, South Carolina, for a weekend trip to Washington, DC, might not sound a lot of fun, but for area vets participating in Honor Flight, it brought long-awaited closure.

Honor Flight Savannah took 23 veterans and 23 guardians to the nation’s capital to tour their memorials and Arlington National Cemetery in May. Four veterans from Effingham County were among the group. The veterans from Effingham County were: Donnie Martin from Rincon, Odell Olsen from Rincon, Tom Edmonds from Guyton, and Walter Hodges from Springfield.

The entire trip – transportation, lodging, food – is free for veterans.

“This meant so much to me, because if I may say, it bought closure from the way that society treated us over 50 years ago when we came home,” said Tom Edmonds, 72, of Guyton. Edmonds served in the Army from 1967-1970.

“I returned from Vietnam six days after I turned 19,” Edmonds recalled. “We were told to take off our uniforms when we got to Travis Field. I know a couple people that didn’t take off their uniforms. There's one in this room that may have got beaten up.”

Closure for Edmonds and the others came in the form of so many people that came up to them at the various memorials to shake their hands. “Elementary and high school students would come up to us and say, ‘Thank you for your service’,” Edmonds said.

But even before the group reaches Washington, there is a lot of ceremony.

“The commander of Parris Island (the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Brig. Gen. Walker Field) came out and shook our hands and spent time with each one of us,” said Jerry Maennche, also a veteran and coordinator for Effingham County of Honor Flight Savannah.

“I shook his hand and said ‘Thank you for your service’,” Maennche said, “And he says ‘no, thank you. Thank you veterans for your service, because y'all were going ahead of us’.”

When the motor coach began to roll from Parris Island, it was escorted all the way to I-95 by Patriot Guard Riders – a motor cycle group of fellow veterans who work with local law enforcement to stop traffic during funeral processions for veterans.

“They stopped everything for us,” said Edmonds.

After leaving Parris Island, the coach made a brief stop at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina, to pick up a professor, an assistant professor, and three students from the college of nursing who had signed up to be guardians for the group.

“Two of the girls were 18 and one was 21,” said Donnie Martin of Rincon, who served in the Air Force from 1968-1974, and also the Army from 1975-1992.

“We put him (Martin) with one of the professors,” joked Maennche.

The group of veterans and their guardians are easy to pick out in a crowds of tourists. The veterans wear white shirts with the Honor Flight logo; and their guardians wear red polos with the Honor Flight logo, and support staff such as Maennche and accompanying medical staff, wear blue polos.

According to Maennche, “three- and four-star generals go out of their way to greet the (Honro Flight) groups.”

But it’s not only military brass that thanks these veterans, school children on field trips seem to know how special these groups are.

“Sometimes you get very discouraged (with) what's going on in this country. (But) when I go over there on these trips, and I see all these groups of grade school kids, middle school kids, they're on a school trip there; and they'd go out of their way to come up to us and say ‘Thank you for your service’,” Maennche said.

Organizers try to make the trip special for the veterans.

“When you’re in the military, Mail Call was one of the most important times of the day,” Maennche said.

Frequently while on these trips, Maennche will be given a large envelope filled with notes from school children for the veterans. “They don’t even know the veterans.”

On this trip the envelope was kept until the trip home.

“On the way home I said, ‘I have Mail Call for every one of you’,” said Minnie Edmonds, who was one of the guardians. Each veteran received an envelope with letters from children.

Veterans develop a special camaraderie during their service and many years after. Honor Flight is no different.

“When they board the bus, they might be strangers to each other,” Maennche said. “When we get home, they are close friends.”

Debbie Wilson was a guardian on this trip for Olsen, 79. Olsen had served in the Navy from 1963-1992. Olsen and Wilson’s

father had met in church, learned they had both served in the Navy, and became friends. Wilson’s father made an Honor Flight trip in September 2019.

Wilson said her father had wanted her to be his guardian, but “It didn’t work out that way,” Wilson said. “So he talked to Mr. Odell and talked him into going on the trip, and he said the only way he would go would be if I was his guardian.” Wilson’s father passed away in 2020.

Guardians get a lot from the trips as well.

 “Just to see all of them be able to experience their memorials and what it means to them is special,” Wilson said.

“I also had an ulterior motive when I was there,” Wilson said. “I spread some of my dad's ashes at the (Vietnam Memorial) wall.”

Another Honor Flight trip is planned for Oct. 14-16. To donate or sign up, contact Maennche at 912-663-0322 or click on the organization website at: www.honorflightsavannah.org.