There are some trips you record in a logbook. There are others you carry in your heart forever.

Preparing these Patriots for another Atlantic Crossing

Last year, I had the extraordinary privilege of helping fly 30 American World War II veterans from Atlanta to Normandy for the 82nd Anniversary of D-Day. This year, I’ve been invited to return again.

For most of us, D-Day is history. For these men, it is memory.

Some were barely 18 years old when they crossed an ocean into uncertainty. Many watched friends fall on the beaches, in the hedgerows, and in the skies above France. Yet four score and 2 years later, the people of Normandy still line the streets waving American flags, applauding these veterans as liberators.

It is difficult to describe what that feels like unless you have seen it firsthand.

Watching elderly veterans roll off the airplane to a standing ovation… seeing French schoolchildren reach out just to shake their hands… hearing church bells ring across tiny villages that still remember June of 1944… it reminds you that freedom is never free, and courage echoes long after the battle ends.

One of the most moving moments for me came at the Normandy American Cemetery. Endless rows of white crosses stretch toward the horizon in perfect silence, overlooking the same coastline where history changed forever. Standing there, you realize these are not just names in a textbook. They were sons, brothers, husbands, friends — young Americans who never came home.

Another unforgettable stop was the church at Sainte-Mère-Église, forever connected to the story of John Steele of the 82nd Airborne. During the airborne assault in the early hours of D-Day, Steele’s parachute became caught on the church steeple, leaving him hanging high above the town while the battle unfolded below. His story became one of the most enduring and human moments of the Normandy invasion — a reminder that history is not just strategy and maps, but individual courage, fear, sacrifice, and survival.

And then there are the quieter moments.

A simple memorial beneath a tree in a peaceful pasture, complete with poppies for those who lost their lives in a nearby battle.

As a pilot, I’ve been fortunate to experience many meaningful flights over the years. But this mission is different. It is not simply transportation. It is stewardship. It is carrying heroes back to the places where history asked everything of them.

At a time when the world often feels divided and distracted, Normandy reminds us what unity, sacrifice, duty, and freedom truly look like.

And perhaps most importantly, it reminds us that we are running out of time to personally thank the remaining members of America’s “Greatest Generation.”

I’m deeply honored to be invited back again this year.

May we never forget what they did there. Just as importantly, may we always be worthy of the price they paid.