Local man part of Honor Flight NV/CA Gold Star Families Wreaths Across America trip

A recent Honor Flight Nevada/California Gold Star trip carried 25 Gold Star families and veterans, including Gold Star Dad Kenny Curtzwiler of Meyers. They were part of a special Wreaths Across America ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Gold Star families belong to the world's most exclusive group that no one wants to be a member of. To be a member you are grieving a family member who was in the military and died during active duty. Honor Flights normally transport America's veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit those memorials dedicated to honor their service and sacrifices.

For just the second time, the two groups joined forces to sponsor a holiday trip for a group from Northern Nevada and eastern California.

In December the group boarded a Southwest plane back east. They represented over 150 years of military service and 27 family deaths in service. For Gold Star families, the holidays are the hardest time of the year, said Jon Yuspa, founder of Honor Flight Nevada.

"It was an honor to fly you there and I'm very sorry you had to be a part of this group," an emotional pilot, a retired Air Force officer, told those on the flight.

Southwest Airlines donated all the plane tickets and all expenses for the participants were taken care of by donations.

The goal with the veteran trips, and now the Gold Star trips, is to honor them, remember their loved ones, and show them the community’s respect. Organizers said they do the trips to foster camaraderie amongst the group and let them know they are not alone or forgotten.

Many in the group had never met each other before, but after the flight, they dined, laughed, and cried as one big family. They all wore matching shirts, with the back of each saying, “You leave as strangers, return as family.”

Curtzwiler said it was a very emotional experience.

"Unbelievable, incredible, the only way I could describe the feeling I had when I went up with the soldiers and participated in the Wreath Ceremony and Changing Of The Guard," said Curtwiler. "The wreath was for Gold Star Families. To be able to actually go up and represent our Nevada Gold Star Families and lay a wreath was one if not the greatest honor I have ever been given."

The speeches given during the flight are very real, organizers said, and the Southwest crew members spoke about how this was one of the most honorable flights they ever worked. They shared what it meant to them and there were many tears from the flight crews - https://youtu.be/hWtK8-tWmnE

A look at the trips dinner at Mission BBQ -

The sponsors are all community-based, DAV Reno Chapter, Jim4Heroes.