National Clothesline

Drycleaner Jeff Miller, who founded the Honor Air program in 2006, was honored personally by President George Bush with a Citizens Medal at a White House ceremony last month.

The award is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom in terms of civilian honors.

Miller was chosen based on his efforts to initiate and develop a program that makes it possible for veterans to travel to the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.

Initially, he came up with the idea shortly after his mother passed away in early 2006. She, along with Miller’s father — who served for the Allies during the war — had given substantial amounts of money for the building of the Memorial, but neither were able to see it fully constructed.

Miller did not want to see that happen to other veterans. During the program’s first run, he worked relentlessly on raising over $130,000 in donations in just a dozen weeks.

He also created a blueprint plan to logistically fly over 200 veterans from his local community in Hendersonville, NC, to DC — a prospect made more daunting by the fact that many of the traveling veterans suffered from financial and physical restrictions.

Since finding success in its initial run, Honor Air has grown considerably in scope.

“We have flown over 650 veterans just out of this county,” Miller said. “In ’07, we merged with Honor Flight out of Ohio and we formed the Honor Flight Network. I think we’re in 33 states now. Just this past year, we flew in 11,136 World War II veterans.”

Miller is quick to admit that the project has become a lot bigger than he envisioned when he first dreamed it up.

“We did not know it was going to spread like it has,” he said. “I had a feeling — we thought there’d be some interest in it — but we didn’t think it would ever hit the numbers is has. Now, Bob Dole is our spokesperson. Clint Eastwood just did a PSA (Public Service Announcement) for us, and Trace Adkins, too.”

Despite the national attention, Miller is just happy to help veterans be able to see the Memorial in person. Those who fly with Honor Air can also visit the Korean War Veterans and Vietnam Memorials, as well as Arlington National Cemetery, making for quite an interesting trip.

Thanks to the program’s success, Miller has been on his own memorable ride, as well... all the way to the White House.

Of course, when a representative for the president first called and left a message, Miller believed it was a joke being perpetrated by one of his friends. That did not stop him from calling back.

Soon, he was invited, along with his wife, Tamara, and son, Beck, to attend a ceremony on Dec. 10 at the Oval Office.

“They swept us right in,” he recalled. “We went into the Roosevelt Room and waited there for about 15 minutes. Next thing I knew, the door opened. There was President Bush saying, ‘Come on in.’ He was a great guy. He was funny. He made us feel very comfortable.”

Shortly after, President Bush presented the Citizens Medal to Miller, as well as his close friend, Earl Morse, who established the Honor Flight program, which is similar in nature to Honor Air.

In a press release, the White House cited the accomplishments of both men who “exemplify the spirit of citizenship that has helped define our nation. By providing our deserving veterans the opportunity to visit the World War II Memorial, they have shown the compassion and gratitude of our nation.”

Overall, the White House honored 23 people with the award this year. Only about 100 Americans have been bestowed with the honor since its inception in November of 1969.

After the presentation of the medals, all of the honorees enjoyed a big banquet and were able to hang out in the East Wing for about three hours.

“They just let us wander around,” he laughed. “I was just walking around with my mouth open most of the time.”

The experience certainly was one of the most memorable of Miller’s life and a nice but unexpected “thank you” for his countless hours of hard work on Honor Air.

Miller, who is the owner and operator of Miller’s Cleaners — a family business over 90 years old in North Carolina — was also honored for those efforts by the drycleaning industry in 2007.

The Drycleaning and Laundry Institute awarded him its highest honor, the Diamond Achievement award, during the Clean Show in Las Vegas.

For more information on the other winner’s of this year’s Presidential Citizens Medal, visit the White House at www.whitehouse.gov. Type “presidential citizens medal” in the search engine box at the top of the page.