Honor Flight

Filmmaker Dan Hayes's celebratory documentary focuses on the "honor flight" movement started in Ohio to gratefully escort any surviving local veterans of the Second World War—a thousand are said to die each day—to see the war memorials (for WWII and Korea) and thank the former soldiers for their sacrifices. Here, Wisconsin's Joe Dean (proud son of a vet who succumbed to Alzheimer's disease) pushes his state to adopt the Ohio tribute program for hundreds of aging Dairylanders, a project that required raising $250,000 (a prominent Wisconsin radio personality helps out). The ensuing narrative locks on to a few select participants in the "Stars and Stripes Honor Flight," including Joe Demler, whose Life magazine photo as a skeletal POW was notorious, and cancer-stricken Orville Lemke, who was part of the D-Day invasion. Bob Dole also appears briefly to welcome the soldiers. In between teary-eyed reunions and upbeat catharses, the film offers up some sobering history lessons, especially concerning the psychological devastation of the so-called “Good War”—noting that many of these seniors spoke very little about their wartime experiences to their families. A heartwarming and often moving documentary, this is recommended. [Note: this is also available on DVD or Blu-ray with public performance rights for $250 from Tugg at http://licenses.tugg.com.] Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)