George Farrell estimates he’ll have been up for 24 hours before veterans arrive this Sunday at 5:30 a.m. at TF Green Airport for departure on a day-long Honor Flight to our Nation’s Capitol. That’s the way it has always been.

Farrell will be at his computer Saturday, making phone calls and even checking the airport perimeter to ensure everything runs like clockwork.

Farrell, a retired Providence Fire Chief who started the RI Fire Chiefs Honor Flight Hub in November 2012, doesn’t expect this Sunday to be any different. Of course, it will be different, as is every Honor Flight. With the exception of two years during the pandemic, Farrell has organized an Honor Fight every year and in some years more than one.

Sunday’s flight, his 31st, has been codenamed “High Voltage.”

Farrell won’t tell you that these have been “his” flights. He puts the spotlight on flight sponsors, the volunteers; the “Providence” airport; the Transportation Security Administration (TSA); his team, many of whom have been with him since the start; the RI Professional Firefighters Pipes and Drums, who make the sendoff special; Wayne P. Morse, who has provided breakfast for all of the flights expect the first; and most importantly the veterans. There will be 58 veterans aboard Sunday.

World Ward II veteran  Aniello DiMeglio, 97, and Korean War veteran, Antonio DeAugiar Jr., 94, both of North Providence, will participate in a Wreath Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier when the flight visits Arlington National Cemetery.

Additionally, six Korea War, 35 Vietnam War and veterans who served during the Cuban Missile Crisis, at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, Iraq and in Granada will be aboard. Rounding out the 104 people on board are the veteran guardians.

As a retired fire chief, Farrell is well cast for his role. He knows how to be prepared for the unexpected and what it takes to meet deadlines. Flight High Voltage has been in the planning for many months. He bought the first of 24 Southwest Airline tickets on Jan. 24. Southwest came through with a grant for an additional 30 tickets and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 42 that has sponsored prior flights stepped up as the flight sponsor. He bought more tickets. Everything was a go.

And then came what couldn’t have been foreseen.

In recent weeks two veterans scheduled for the flight died and another ducked out because of health reasons. Farrell’s incident command system kicked into gear. Individual schedules needed adjusting so the team would know where each of the veterans would be at all times. There are such considerations as medications, food allergies, and emergency contact information for each flight member.

Then there was the super adjustment.

Usually honor flights are scheduled for Saturday. That was the plan for High Voltage until Southwest canceled its early morning Saturday DC flight from Rhode Island.

“We could have taken a later flight, but there just wasn’t the time [to visit the Washington memorials and Arlington National Cemetery],” said  Farrell. The decision was made to depart Sunday morning. That wasn’t easy. Scheduling of buses and events needed to be changed across the board including the booking at the Sheraton/Biltmore Hotel for the flight dinner and mail call, a highlight for the vets and the Honor Flight team as well.

Karen Casale will do mail call on Sunday, handing out 129 pounds of letters and photos compiled individually for each veteran by Julie Latessa. Farrell mailed the package of letters last week to the hotel. It wouldn’t work to have a mail call with no mail.

A change to Sunday, however, meant no evening flight to Rhode Island from Washington Airport. They would have to depart from Baltimore, meaning more adjustments from incident command. That flight returns to Green at 10 p.m.

In an email that went out Saturday to the team and guardians who will accompany each of the veterans, Farrell outlined the schedule, thanked those who have had a part in making the flight possible and added his own recommendation.

“Be present for them [the veterans],” he wrote. “This is their moment.”

 “Watch their eyes, listen to their voices, and see what they see. It is right there … it is their history, their life, be grateful that you have this moment in your life too.”

“At the end of the day, when your veterans tell you that this was one of the best days of their life, it will be at that moment that you know that you have accomplished our Honor Flight mission.”