As a photographer for the Marines from 1958 to 1962, Maralynn Lorenc was one of five women with a top secret clearance who helped write the history of Vietnam with photographs and slides for presentations that would prove invaluable during the subsequent war between that Asian country and the United States.
Some 60 years later, the Fairfield Glade resident made her own history. She was one of 142 individuals who took part in the first HonorAir Knoxville flight for female veterans.
The HonorAir Knoxville flights began in 2007. Between 135 and 145 World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans from Eastern Tennessee fly to Washington, D.C., for one day and visit various war memorials. World War II and critically ill veterans are given top priority. The flights are offered twice a year, in April and October, and include 40 escorts and a 13-person team of doctors, nurses, photographers, security and administrators. Veterans fly for free. The flight cost is paid through individual and corporate donations.
Among the thousands who have made the trip is Lorenc, who was stationed in Parris Island and Quantico and was awarded, along with her unit, a Meritorious Mast for outstanding performance done under a tight time constraint. A native of Ohio who grew up in Florida, she enlisted in the Marines with her best friend after graduating from high school. Returning to school on the G.I. Bill, Lorenc earned a degree in nursing and spent 35 years in that field including a dozen years in Saudi Arabia. Lorenc retired in 2004 and moved to Fairfield Glade two years later.
In 2022, Lorenc went on the HonorAir Knoxville Flight 31, which had been delayed two years due to the pandemic. With her husband passing away in 2021, Lorenc said she considered not making the trip but opted to go following encouragement from friend and flight escort Gus Gocella. She’s glad she went and made history.
“It was an honor to go on that flight,” Lorenc said. “The monuments and memorials built to honor our veterans past and present was, for me, humbling. At the Marine Corps War Memorial, ( I was one of) eight women Marine vets who stood proudly for a photo. The women’s memorial is outstanding. It is filled with so much history of the different roles women have held while serving their country. No matter length of service or MOS (military occupation specialty), it was done with pride.”
On the return flight to Knoxville, Lorenc and her fellow veterans had mail call, receiving packets filled with letters and drawings from family, friends and school children that had been sent to Knoxville without the former’s knowledge and held there for two years until the flight took place. In her packet, Lorenc found a letter written by her husband, who passed away exactly 11 months before Flight 31 took to the air. She “tipped a wing” to Gocella and the individual who made the flight possible.
“Eddie Mannis, the man behind HonorAir Knoxville, deserves more than we can ever repay for his dedication to our veterans and for making HonorAir Knoxville a reality,” Lorenc said.
Gocella has served as an escort on 28 HonorAir Knoxville flights. He became involved with the program in 2009 after a friend and World War II veteran told him it was the greatest thing ever.
A Vietnam War veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange and retired from the Air Force, Gocella raises some $10,000 annually for HonorAir Knoxville through grant writing and donations from his church and various service organizations. Helping the program financially and going on the flights never gets old for Gocella.
“I enjoy the camaraderie and love going to the memorials,” Gocella said. “I get a different feeling each time. We go to the Vietnam Wall and find names. It’s healing for them and me every time. God said let there be light, and He’s given me plenty of light. I love to spread the light among the veterans. That’s what I do. It’s about the people I’m escorting rather than myself.”
Another Marine from the Upper Plateau who went on an HonorAir Knoxville flight is Terry Strasser. The Detroit native served in the Marines for six years and spent 1968-‘70 in Vietnam, where he saw heavy combat and was exposed to Agent Orange. A resident of Crossville since 2006, Strasser is the service officer for Marine Corps League 1467 and a member of the executive board of the Cumberland County Veterans Assistance Board. Given his military involvement, he was a natural fit for the honor flight.
“The entire trip with honor air was so well planned,” said Strasser, who traveled to Washington, DC., on Flight 33 in October 2023. “It’s beyond words. It starts with a local veterans’ luncheon, where all the details of the trip are laid out. They provide everything — transportation buses, meals and medical personnel if needed. Visiting all the memorials is something everyone should do once in their lifetime.”
Being a U.S. Marine, Strasser added, he naturally liked the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial. He also enjoyed the crowd greeting them upon their return to Knoxville and a reunion breakfast where the veterans received gifts of shirts, hat, pins and books with photos from the trip.
“The camaraderie shared with fellow veterans was very special,” Strasser said. “There weren’t a lot of war stories but kind of an unspoken bond with each other. Mail call on the trip home was very special. If any veteran has an opportunity to go on a honor air flight, do not pass up the chance. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Strasser’s wife, Lynne, was an escort on an all female veterans flight in October 2024. The Pittsburgh, PA, native said it was one of the most rewarding and emotional experiences of her life, noting there’s an obvious bond between veterans that as civilians they can only observe.
“Hearing their stories and watching this camaraderie in action as we visited the memorials for each branch of service was truly special,” she said. “However, the best was saved for last — the welcome home at the Knoxville Airport. This reception is the perfect ending to this special day. All these grateful Americans young and old thanking each veteran as they came down the ramp was a very moving and emotional experience for me. I know these veterans felt the love and gratitude like never before.”
All the veterans from Crossville get to experience this homecoming again, Lynne added, when they get off the bus at the Holiday Inn. “It is a long day but I am more than happy and honored to do something as special as this for those veterans that gave so much for us. I can’t wait to do it again.”
The Strassers are among over 244,000 veterans who have flown on honor flights since 2005. That’s the year six private planes flew 12 veterans to Washington, D.C., in the inaugural honor flight.
The trip was the culmination of an initiative started by a retired Air Force captain and the son of a World War II veteran to transport veterans to see the memorials representing the wars in which they fought. Taking off from there, the program evolved into a 501©(3) organization that features commercial planes and local chapters and subgroups.
Jack Fogel is another Crossville veteran who went on an honor flight. A retired Navy chief gunner’s mate who did four tours during the Vietnam War, the 81-year-old Oregon native was onboard Honor Flight 21 in 2016.
“It was great,” said Fogel, who has lived in Crossville since 2007. “It was quite meaningful to see all the memorials.”
It was especially moving to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and see the names of two people he knew. “Touching a name is like touching a living person,” Fogel said. “They come alive in your memory. It’s amazing and heartfelt.”
Coming home, Fogel and his fellow veterans received a reception at the Knoxville Airport that was unforgettable in a positive way and gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling all over.
“It was amazing and hard to describe,” Fogel said. “I think America needs to do more of that not just for the military but people in general around the United States.”