This Juneteeth, retired U.S. Air Force Captain Marian Dee Elder and 25 of her fellow Black veterans will board a plane in Atlanta and fly to Washington D.C.
There, this group will spend the day visiting various commemorative sites. They will share stories, shed tears and strengthen bonds forged by their unique experiences and challenges as Black servicemen and women.
Elder recalls that she faced discrimination and closed doors as a Black woman in the military. it was more difficult for Black soldiers to get promotions or selective duty stations, she said. Elder said she believes that racial discrimination has lessened since her enlistment, but she knows that there is a significant history of downplaying Black veterans’ contributions.
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“This opportunity to go on this Juneteenth flight is just a way of, to me, a recognition that African Americans are important, did play a significant role in the military and it’s about time we got recognized,” Elder said. Dee Elder
In Washington, D.C., these Veterans will visit the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. When they return to Georgia Wednesday evening, the group will continue to celebrate Juneteenth and one another as they wrap up the inaugural Juneteenth “Honor Flight.”
Historically, Black veterans are some of the least recognized soldiers in American military history. African Americans have fought alongside white soldiers dating back to the American Revolution, throughout the World Wars and in conflicts overseas since then. Despite their equal service and sacrifice, for decades America’s Black veterans received a sliver of the recognition and celebration that white veterans did.
The Juneteenth tribute put together by the Honor Flight Network is a celebration tailor-made for veterans. Since 2005, the Honor Flight Network has provided veterans with all-expenses-paid round-trip flights to the United States capital, where they spend the day touring memorials.
This experience gives veterans from across Georgia are included in the chance to meet one another and memorialize history. The new Juneteenth Honor Flight is particularly special because Black veterans share a unique past that outsiders white veterans cannot fully comprehend.
John McCaskill, Honor Flight Network board member and historian, attests to the unique effect the flights have had on so many veterans.
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“It is what Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes called the ‘incommunicable experience of war,’” said McCaskill. “Unless you’ve experienced combat, you wouldn’t understand, and it wouldn’t do any good for [veterans] trying to explain it. They couldn’t explain it in a language that you could understand. But when they are around each other, it allows them to release some things and to heal from some things.”
Elder, or “Captain Dee” as she was called, began service in the Army in 1973 and went on to serve in the Navy before retiring from the Air Force in 1996. Elder primarily served delivering health care, beginning with driving ambulances and giving physical exams and then getting an associate’s degree in nursing to serve in the Navy and Air Force. She went on to become a flight nurse and retired as a captain.
Elder found out about the Juneteenth Honor Flight by word of mouth at a Veterans Affairs medical center and found herself especially interested in this special Juneteenth trip.
“Juneteenth, the holiday, is an important holiday for all African Americans,” said Elder. “That’s emancipation. So that was a sign of freedom, and as a veteran, I fought for our freedom while I was in the service during wartime. So it’s important that I can be a part – it’s like I’m making history.”
Juneteenth, a federal holiday since 2021, is an annual commemoration of the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States.
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On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, freeing all enslaved people in the Confederate states. But the freedom didn’t spread to territory still controlled by Confederates. In Texas, freedom wasn’t realized until much later.
On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and the army announced more than 200,000 enslaved people were freed, hence the celebration of the day as Juneteenth. In 2021, Congress designated June 19 as a federal holiday.
Georgians across the state celebrate this holiday in a variety of ways throughout the whole week. From the Taste of Juneteenth festival in Dublin last Saturday, the day-of Juneteenth Augusta Festival all the way to Savannah’s Juneteenth Fine Arts Festival next Saturday, Georgians are memorializing and celebrating.
With a blue sky above the Lincoln Memorial, people walk along the reflection pool in Washington, D.C., on June 9, 2023.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
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Jose Luis Magana/AP
A nonprofit is suing the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum over the decision to resurface the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool at Washington D.C.’s National Mall, and to paint the pool’s basin blue.
The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), an education and advocacy organization. In the suit, TCLF is asking a federal judge to halt the project, saying that the Trump administration failed to have the project reviewed federally, as is dictated by the National Historic Preservation Act.
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President Trump revealed his plans for the pool do-over last month in “American flag blue,” saying that the project would take one week and $2 million, and that it would be completed in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. A few days later on Truth Social, the president posted a fake image of himself and several of his administration officials in swimsuits, along with an unidentified woman in a gingham bikini, lounging in the water with the Washington National Monument at the rear. (Swimming in the reflecting pool is prohibited by federal law.)
In a YouTube video posted by the White House on April 23, Trump called the pool “filthy dirty” and said it “leaked like a sieve.” In that video, Trump said he was going to call three companies that he has worked with in the past – “all they do is swimming pools” – and say, “Give me a good price.”
The New York Times reported last Friday that the contract for the reflecting pool’s resurfacing was awarded in a $6.9 million no-bid contract to a company called Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which previously has never held any federal contracts.
An employee at the Atlantic Industrial Coatings confirmed in a telephone call on Monday that it has been contracted for this project, but referred all other questions to the Department of the Interior.
The Times reported on Monday that the final cost of the project could be upward of $13 million, per documents it says it has obtained. The Department of the Interior did not confirm the cost of the project, but wrote: “The contract price reflects the effort necessary to expedite the timeline of completing the leak prevention coating project—more people, more materials, more equipment and longer hours ahead of our 250th.”
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In an unsigned statement emailed to NPR Monday afternoon, the Interior Department wrote: “The National Park Service chose the best company to expedite the repair of the iconic Reflecting Pool ahead of our 250 celebrations. The choice of American Flag Blue will enhance the visitor experience by making the pool reflect the grand Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. NPS is also investing in a state-of-the-art ozone nanobubbler filtration system and will now have a dedicated crew who will maintain the grounds’ from wildlife. The Department is proud of the work being carried out by our Park Service to ensure this magical spot can be enjoyed for not only our 250th, but for many generations to come.”
Critics of the project, including TCLF, don’t share that vision – and are taking particular umbrage at the color.
“The reflecting pool should not be viewed in isolation; it is part of the larger ensemble of designed landscapes that comprise the National Mall,” Charles A. Birnbaum, the president and CEO of TCLF, said in a statement emailed to NPR Monday. “The design intent, to create a reflective surface that is subordinate, is fundamental to the solemn and hallowed visual and spatial connection between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. A blue-tinted basin is more appropriate to a resort or theme park.”
The National Park Service regularly cleans out algae, goose droppings and other detritus from the reflecting pool. The last major renovation of the reflecting pool, which included the installation of a new circulation and filtration system, took place during the Obama administration at a reported cost of $34 million.
Before founding TCLF in 2008, Birnbaum served for 15 years as the coordinator of the Historic Landscape Initiative for the National Park Service.
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TCLF has another open lawsuit against the federal administration: it is one of eight cultural and architecture groups currently suing President Trump and the Kennedy Center board over the planned renovations of the complex, which are planned to start in July.
The memorial service will be held at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial at 1 p.m.
A brave K-9 hero from the region will be honored at the Annual National Police K9 Memorial Service on Monday afternoon. (Roanoke Police Department)
WASHINGTON D.C. – A brave K-9 hero from the region will be honored at the Annual National Police K9 Memorial Service on Monday afternoon.
K-9 Knox died in the line of duty last year after he was accidentally hit by a police vehicle while pursuing a suspect involved in a stolen vehicle incident. He was a 3-year-old German shepherd and had served as a narcotics detection and patrol apprehension K-9 for the Roanoke Police Department since May 2023.
The memorial service will include a wreath-laying ceremony and will be held at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., at 1 p.m. The event will open with a musical performance by Frank Ray, and the guest speaker will be Deputy Jared Hahn of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit.
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The San Antonio Police Department Blue Line Choir will sing the national anthem, and the Emerald Society Pipes & Drums band will also perform.
Showers continue to move west with a cold front tonight. There will be a break in the rain overnight, but showers return for the start of the day on Monday. Monday afternoon will be dry, but noticeably cooler.
Sunshine returns Tuesday, but the break in the rain will be short-lived with rain chances on Wednesday
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
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TONIGHT: Showers early Mostly cloudy Wind: N 5-10 mph LOW: Low 50s
