On Saturday, May 1, 2010 there were eight Honor Flights arriving and what an arrival they had.  I know Judi Wybenga and crew had a crowd at the airports and the Iowa veterans were met by former students of Iowa University and friends. It was an amazing crowd as the buses were stacked along Homeland Drive and as the veterans were shaking hands from greeters from one end of the drive to the entrance to the Memorial where they were met by Alabama students:  Jenny Gray, one of the teachers with them wrote me this letter:

“It was such an honor to meet and greet the veterans again this year.  We had 61 sixth graders and 24 chaperones from Prattville Intermediate School (Prattville, AL) take time out of their field trip to greet this special group of men and women.

Last year, our field trip group was able to meet the Honor Flight group from our hometown.  It was extremely moving sharing this special time with them.  Even though we couldn’™t plan our trip at the same time again this year, we set aside Saturday morning to thank this amazing group of veterans.  We were excited to be able to greet the group from Rochester, NY two years in a row.

Our students made many cards for some of the groups to enjoy during their œmail call.  We spent 3 hours shaking hands, laughing, cheering, and crying with these men and women.  I can honestly say that this was the only time during the trip our students didn’t whine about being tired.  They knew that those moments were not about them.  I am so proud of the respect and gratitude they shared with the veterans.

We look forward to making this part of our trip again next year.

Let me know if you need anymore information.

Thank you,

Jenny Gray
6th grade teacher

You can see the ph
otos for the day on the Photo Site.