'Guarding' a veteran on Blue Ridge Honor Flight from Asheville to Washington DC

WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 27 marked my fourth Blue Ridge Honor Flight, but there was something unique about this one. For the first time, I was a guardian.

Although that entailed a whole new list of responsibilities, one thing didn't change — honoring veterans. I first met "my veteran," Mars Hill's Ronnie Robinson, on April 13 at orientation day in Asheville. Guardians are responsible for their veterans from arrival at Asheville Regional Airport around 6 a.m. to arriving back around 9 p.m. When we got to the airport on April 27, at first I couldn't find Robinson. Turns out, he was standing against the wall with a group that I had passed by several times that morning.

We bonded immediately.

Blue Ridge Honor Flight was started in 2005 by Hendersonville's Jeff Miller. It takes veterans to Washington, D.C., to see the war memorials. For this trip there were 90 veterans, including three from World War II and five from the Korean War.

Robinson, 69, was a Marine who served from 1972-76. This was his first Blue Ridge Honor Flight.

It was a smooth flight to Baltimore-Washington International Airport and when we landed, Blue Ridge Honor Flight founder Jeff Miller announced that medical staff and media need to get off the plane first. Robinson grinned, because I actually about got out of my seat.

"Not you this time, right buddy?" he said.

Later, we got off the plane and walked down a short tunnel. As we came out, people were cheering with flags and banners. I had never seen the welcome from that perspective before. Many of the veterans got choked up as they shook hands with the airport greeters.

During all the excitement, I did something no guardian should ever do: I lost my veteran. I went searching frantically through the airport. He was nowhere to be found. Then my phone rang. It was Blue Ridge Community College President Laura Leatherwood.

"Dean, where are you?" she said.

I thought I was in big trouble. Now, I had been to the principal's office a few times in my high school days, but I had never been to the college president's office.

"I'm still here in the airport," I said.

"You have your veteran with you?" she said.

All I could get out was, "Umm..."

"Well, I know you don't because he's right here at the bus looking for you," she said, laughing.

Our first stop was the World War II Memorial, where a ceremony was held for the Blue Ridge Honor Flight veterans. Next was Arlington National Cemetery. It's the one stop that I always remember seeing veterans looking out the bus windows as we make the drive up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. What seems like never-ending grave sites during that drive always brings many veterans to tears.

"I just can't believe there are so many," Robinson said.

After witnessing the Changing of the Guard, we made a brief stop to the Marines Memorial, and Robinson, who was a Marine, was impressed.

"It's so big. That's a great memorial," he said.

The final stop was a trip to the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Korean War Memorial. It was about a 15-minute bus ride through D.C. traffic. I was sitting behind Robinson on the bus, because he was sitting with his other veteran friends from Mars Hill.

As we were getting off the bus, one of the veterans said, "Hey Dean ... your veteran is out cold."

One took a photo of him as he slept, and the sound of the phone's camera woke him up. They were all laughing.

"Guess I took a little snooze," Robinson said.

It was the end of a long day, and we got back on the bus an hour before we were supposed to. I got up, saying I needed to see one last thing. It was actually the gift shop. I saw a coffee mug there with the Vietnam Memorial on it, and I knew he'd love it.

"You forgot this," I said when I got back on the bus.

"Thanks, buddy," he said.

All the veterans got a heroes' welcome in Asheville — something most never received after returning home from duty.

"This is great. It's been a great day," Robinson said.

More: Answer Man: Do you have to be a veteran to go on Blue Ridge Honor Flights?

More: WW II veteran, former Citizen Times contributor Hogstrom, 99, taking his 1st Honor Flight

Dean Hensley is the news editor for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him with tips, questions and comments at DHensley@gannett.com. Please help support this kind of local journalism with a subscription to the Hendersonville Times-News.

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Blue Ridge Honor Flight from Asheville to DC guarding a veteran