GILBERT, Ariz. — On Jan. 5, 2020, Gilbert resident Dustin Harrison was killed along with two others in a terrorist attack on a base in Kenya.
Harrison was a pilot and worked as a contractor for the Department of Defense. The terrorists were linked to Al-Qaeda and based in nearby Somalia. He was days away from returning when the attack happened.
On Monday, Hope Harrison and her 3-year-old daughter Heaven had the opportunity to fly in Dustin’s honor. The flights were organized by Tony Anger who runs the non-profit Grounded No More, Inc to give military veterans and now Gold Star families a chance to fly in a vintage World War 2 airplane.
The company started four years ago and has taken 400 veterans on the ride of a lifetime.
“This flight can change lives knowing there’s a group that absolutely loves and respects them for what they’ve done,” says Anger.
Hope Harrison, the widow of Dustin, went up first in the vintage Fairchild PT-26. She says the flight gave her a lot of mixed emotions.
“It was beautiful to see what my husband would see every day. Just being up there, knowing he’s so much all over, he’s everywhere,” said Hope.
She said doing the flight was something she had to do to honor him and feel closer to him.
Her daughter Heaven also went up, but in a plane that could accommodate her because of her size. Heaven, decked out in a flight suit with her father’s name on the tag, did a full inspection of the plane with Anger before departure.
“When you see a kid at this age that has got so much love for something like this, that she obviously got from her father, he had taken her up flying before so she’d seen this before. Today is just going to be a memory that will last her and her mom the rest of their lives,” said Anger.
As they taxied down the tarmac, the Arizona Patriot Guard lined up with flags blowing in the wind. Hope Harrison said that her daughter, even at a young age, aspires to become a pilot one day.
“She thinks her dad is up there flying and every time she sees a plane she says, there’s my daddy. She doesn’t quite understand that he’s not here with us, so she’s doing what she loves and associates that with her father.”
