The Quiet Power of Honor Flight Photography

A reflection on the impact of photography during the Honor Flight experience.

During their flight day, Veterans are removed from the normal, everyday context of their lives. This creates a unique opportunity for us. Often, along with their routines, friends, and families, Veterans leave behind many of the defenses they have developed over the years since they left the service. They enter their Honor Flight more vulnerable than many of them have been in a long time. Sometimes this vulnerability is present as a Veteran enters Southwest Baggage claim at the airport before 6:00am the morning of their flight—other times it develops through the day during conversations and visits to their memorials.

It is really challenging to try to articulate what it is like to experience this level of vulnerability. For some Veterans, the jokes they tell or shared laughter that comes from deep inside themselves provide a release for a burden they have carried for most of their lives. For others, release comes when they are met by their own reflection in the black granite of the Vietnam Wall as they gently touch an aged finger to the name of a friend who never came home.  These small moments that take place, sometimes over mere seconds, change the lives of our heroes.

We know this to be true not because of the reminiscences of staff or volunteers, but from the hearts of our Veterans themselves. After every flight, we receive letters, emails, and phone calls from Veterans who were changed because of a flight day. This includes: enlisted and drafted Veterans who served during a conflict overseas, those who fought for their country fulfilling their role stateside, those who went on their flight knowing how difficult it would be and Veterans who might never have realized their internal service wounds never completely healed. All of them share with us the impact of the intimate moments from their flights.

These moments are at the very core of why we exist: moments of profound humanity that speak to the power of shared experiences and the deep, often unspoken burdens of service. If you have experienced an Honor Flight as a volunteer or as a Veteran, you remember what these moments felt like—feelings that even just for an instant connected you so deeply to another person. But have you tried to express what it felt like to someone else who has not been on an Honor Flight? How do you put such vulnerable and emotional moments into words?

The truth is words are not enough. Language is a powerful tool, but these moments transcend its capabilities. It cannot impress upon the reader what it was like to see a man who saw his buddy become a prisoner of war, find his name on the Vietnam Wall. Language can never explain the feeling of laughing with a new friend. It cannot describe the thoughts of a woman who holds the picture of her youth as she processes her service experiences. Above all else, language can never warm you like the embrace of another as you let go of the guilt, anger, shame, or loneliness you have felt for over 50 years.

Pictures allow our Veterans to relive some of the most meaningful moments of their lives. This is why we prioritize a kind of photography and videography during our flights that is dedicated to empathizing with our Veterans. It is why we insist that our Guardians send physical photographs to our Veterans. For our heroes, the images they hold in their hands are lasting, tangible reminders of the newfound peace they experienced. We also provide resources for Veterans and the community at large to engage with a flight day. This includes access to a gallery of photographs from every mission, partnerships with creatives who generously give their heart and soul to honoring the Veterans of our communities, and sharable social media posts aimed to invite you to join Honor Flight Columbus. It is our hope that through these resources, Veterans and volunteers can remember the change they felt on their flight day when strangers became friends and friends became family.

So, next time someone asks why do you serve with Honor Flight or why did you take your Honor Flight, show them a picture. Let the faces and expressions speak for you. If you are considering taking your own Honor Flight, let the faces and expressions convince you.