At Wiscasset service, Cmdr. Cossette recounts Honor Flight trip
American Legion Post 54 Cmdr. William Cossette Jr. shares his Honor Flight memories with the Veterans Day gathering Nov. 11 in Wiscasset. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Rina Flood looks at the veterans’ wall that bears her husband and late brother-in-law’s names. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
American Legion Post 54 Cmdr. William Cossette Jr. shares his Honor Flight memories with the Veterans Day gathering Nov. 11 in Wiscasset. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Rina Flood looks at the veterans’ wall that bears her husband and late brother-in-law’s names. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
When Wiscasset's William Cossette Jr. took a special trip for veterans last summer, he took a photo of fellow American Legion Post 54 member Wally Pitcher with him. Pitcher was supposed to go with him on the Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C. area sites that honor veterans. "He died two weeks before" the trip, Cossette told attendees of the Post's Veterans Day observance Nov. 11.
Recounting the trip, Cossette said, "Everywhere we went was wonderful." A big crowd was on hand to see the group off at Portland Jetport. After landing in Baltimore, everywhere they went they had escorts, among them, American Legion motorcyclists and military police, sirens blaring, he said.
At Arlington National Cemetery, during the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, many people witnessed the ceremony and "You could hear a pin drop," Cossette, Post 54's longtime commander, said. "There was no sound, whatsoever. And then you're looking out and seeing all the graves out there. I was quite taken back by it all, like everyone that went with us."
"And when we got back to Portland, the reception we got there, if you didn't have tears in your eyes when you got done — something's wrong."
The trip was a once in a lifetime experience, "something you'll never forget," Cossette added. He encouraged people to consider donating to the Honor Flight organization. According to honorflight.org, the 20-year-old nonprofit has honored more than 300,000 veterans.
This year's Veterans Day observance got a gray sky and light wind. Annapolis, Maryland's Rupert and Rina Flood came up to Wiscasset for the ceremony. His name is on the wall, as is his late brother Morgan's.
Rina Flood said her Wiscasset-raised husband served in the Army and Coast Guard, a total of 24 years including the wars in Grenada-Lebanon, the Global War on Terror, Iraq-Iran and the Gulf War; Morgan Flood was a Marine and served during Grenada-Lebanon.
And she said Cossette was best friends with her late father-in-law, Gardiner Flood, and is a close family friend.
Viewing the wall before the ceremony, what thoughts was it bringing her? "Honor. Respect," she answered. "It warms my soul."
