AUSTIN, Texas — The first all-African American Honor Flight is set to take off this week, and members of the Austin Fire Department will join them as they fly to the nation’s capital.

Four Austin firefighters will serve as guardians and help 51 local World War II, Vietnam War and Korean War veterans during the historic trip.

“It’s very humbling, that’s the first word that comes to mind, with it being all African-American flight, of course, with myself being African-American, it adds to that honor,” Darren Hyson, a firefighter who has been with AFD for 20 years said.

Hyson, along with Assistant Chief Richard Davis, fire specialist Adrain Smith, and firefighter Preston Curtis are all veterans. Each have served in the military respectively for more than 20 years. Hyson served in the United States Air Force for three decades. His father was also a Vietnam War veteran.

“As a dependent in the military, we all grew up at the youth center,” Hyson said. “We didn’t see color, we just saw just kids. We just had a great time just learning about patriotism and that just rubbed off on me in a way that want to give back.”

The guardians will accompany the veterans as they visit the memorials built in their honor. The trip will include a visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“When I go back and think about what the Tuskegee airmen went through, the different color brigades, the separate standard that our military members of color went through, even when it came to prisoners of war in World War II being treated better than those who fought for them, having to sit in a separate area on the train, it is about time,” Hyson said.

Hyson is assigned to Austin Fire Station 41 in northeast Austin. He is also one of the coordinators of the Austin Fire Department Explorers Program, where he introduces interested young adults to careers in emergency services and teaches them about leadership. While working for AFD, he remains active in the Air Force Reserve.

“It’s just a cycle, I think we all should embrace, to pay it forward. Never forget where we came from, never forget those who paved the way for us,” Hyson said.