Few things can cut through today’s polarized political climate like the emotional impact of an Honor Flight.

Since 2012, the Rhode Island Fire Chiefs Honor Flight Hub, in collaboration with the National Honor Flight Network and its many dedicated volunteers and donors, have embarked on 27 Honor Flights, ferrying thousands of veterans to Washington D.C. for a chance at a reflective and meaningful moment in the capital of the nation they vowed to protect and serve.

Anyone who has seen or participated in an honor flight understands the importance of these events, and how increasingly important they become as veterans of our nation’s wars age (particularly our local World War 2 veterans) and become less able to travel without assistance from such groups.

Former Providence Fire Chief George Farrell, who started the first honor flight in Rhode Island over a decade ago, has put in untold numbers of hours to safely transport these men and women. And he promises that the upcoming flight will hold an additional importance.

Rhode Island Honor Flight number 28, named “Freedom,” will take place on Monday, June 19, as opposed to past flights which have traditionally been held on a Saturday. As of 2021, June 19 has been declared a federal holiday, “Juneteenth”, that commemorates the final emancipation of enslaved peoples of color in America in 1865.

It can be easy to forget in a modern world that in the not-so-distant past, millions of men, women and children were held in bondage and treated as property within a country whose very foundational document proclaimed that all people were created equal and entitled to certain rights. It can also be easily forgotten that thousands of minority American citizens — from those who fought in the Revolution as freed slaves, to those who helped liberate Europe from the tyrannies of World War II — have served this country and fought for its ideals despite not enjoying the equal treatment or protections of their white allies who they fought alongside.

With Honor Flight Freedom, there can at least be some pride in the fact that we have progressed as a nation and as a people, where we honor the sacrifice of our bravest individuals, notwithstanding their gender, race, ethnicity, or religion. Twenty minority veterans will join in the flight to D.C., where a contingent of the RI Professional Fire Fighters Pipes and Drums will follow them on their journey to memorials and Arlington National Cemetery, reflecting on what true American patriotism looks like.