“Your Story Matters More Than You Think”: Empire Veteran Serves as Guardian on Syracuse Honor Flight
On Saturday, September 19 at 4 a.m., Executive Director of the Office of Scholarly Supports Shannon Pritting ’24 and his wife were at the Syracuse Hancock International Airport preparing to escort her parents, both Navy Corpsmen from the mid-1970s, to Washington D.C. A volunteer quartet from his daughter’s high school marching band cheered them on as they made their way across the tarmac. “It was a whirlwind of positivity,” Pritting says.
Pritting, who was in the Navy from 1995 to 1999, recently served as a guardian on an Honor Flight—a program that flies U.S. veterans to Washington D.C. to visit war memorials and honor their service. For the Empire alumnus and staff member, the experience recontextualized how he thinks about his service: “Don’t think that you need to be a war hero to go through this,” he says.
The Avoca, NY native enlisted when he was 17, and served as a radioman on many vessels, including the widely known USS Stark, which he helped decommission. At age 21, he left the Navy and enrolled at SUNY Empire through the GI Bill, earning a project management certificate in 2022 and graduating with his MBA in 2024. He has now worked at the university for four years, where he also engages with the Student Veteran and Military Club.
Pritting’s in-laws applied for the Syracuse Honor Flight online, and asked Pritting and his wife to be their guardians for the experience. He explains that “a veteran can request to go on an Honor Flight, and you get VIP access to all the war memorials.” Their group of 85 participants, which included a 100-year-old veteran from Jamesville, NY, also visited the Arlington Cemetery, the largest military cemetery in the nation, and got dedicated access to a changing of the guard ceremony.
On the way there and back, crowds applauded and cheered for them at the airport. The Rear Admiral who co-founded the Syracuse chapter, John Paddock, Jr. was aboard the flight, and to honor the organization’s 25th mission, their reception in Syracuse included fire trucks and a full police escort. Quilters from the North Country presented the veterans with quilts, including Pritting’s in-laws, which made for a warm welcome that struck a chord with the Vietnam-era veterans on the flight. “It was great to have a homecoming,” Pritting says.
At the Vietnam memorial, Pritting’s father-in-law, who worked at a military hospital, honored the memory of patients who were exposed to Agent Orange, a tactical herbicide used to thin out jungle foliage. Later, they visited the Pentagon Memorial, and Pritting had a moment of remembrance for his shipmate aboard the USS Stark, Johnnie Doctor Jr., who was killed in the 9/11 attack. “I got to sit on his bench in that memorial. He was such a kind person,” he shares, adding that flowers had been placed on the bench. “It just made me feel good that his family still remembers him,” says Pritting.
Throughout the day, organizers of the Honor Flight encouraged veterans to tell their stories, which made Pritting realize that he had never opened up to his in-laws about losing his friend and shipmate, Doctor Jr. “You don’t bring it up often in discussion,” says the Navy veteran. The Honor Flight enabled them to have conversations that hadn’t happened before, and share their experiences with the other veterans and guardians. “It shows how much you have in common with people once you start talking about your shared experiences,” Pritting observes.
Embarking on the Honor Flight was a priceless experience for Pritting and his family— “The effect I saw it had on everybody was the most important part,” he says. The program recognizes the varied experiences of veterans and provides a platform for them to connect and be celebrated by their communities, which was eye-opening to Pritting. To fellow veterans, he says: “What you did matters. You should feel like you can tell your story, because it’s more important than you think.”