DAPHNE, Ala. — Dr. Barry Booth couldn’t finish his presentation on Honor Flight without choking up a bit.

“I’ve done (the presentation) around 250 times,” he said. “I can’t get through it without taking a breath.”

He wasn’t the only one who was on the verge of tears.

There were moments of sniffling, and tissues were brought out by some people as Booth explained to attendees Wednesday at Catherine’s Place exactly what Honor Flight was, and described the day-long experience.

Booth helped spearhead the beginning of Honor Flight South Alabama, which falls under the umbrella of the national organization that brings World War II veterans from their hometown to Washington, D.C. for a day-long adventure to visit the war memorials, specifically the World War II memorial built in 2004.

“What the World War II veterans did for our nation and the world is a debt we cannot repay,” Booth said to the attendees, some of whom were past Honor Flight passengers.

“I felt emotion that I never felt, and it was because of the men that I knew and met (on the flight),” said Glen Boone, a retired U.S. Navy captain. “I felt something that had been missing for a long time in our country, a return to patriotism.”

The program is active in 30 states, Booth said, and more than 50,000 veterans have made the trip to the memorial. Honor Flight pays for all expenses, and there have been four flights from Mobile transporting more than 350 World War II veterans to the nation’s capitol.

There will be another flight in May 2011, Booth said, and each flight can hold approximately 95 veterans with the cost being around $75,000 per flight.

‘We can take care of anybody, and it brings joy to a circle wider than you can measure,” Booth said.

He told attendees that the flights are not just for veterans who held a gun or were in the heart of the battlefield during the war.

“Anyone that wears the cloth of the nation deserves a ‘thank you’ and a pat on the back,” Booth said. “Everybody played a part and no one played an unimportant part.”

Booth showed a video with photos describing the day-long adventure and what the trip entails. Flight passengers are encouraged to meet at the buses at 5 a.m. to head to the airport, where they will take an A-320 plane to Washington. They visit the memorials and head back to the airport for the return trip home. Once the group returns, Booth said people — including the fire department and local Coast Guard — come to greet the veterans and show their support.

“I’ve watched World War II veterans enjoy the most amazing hero’s welcome,” said Cecilia Mace, communications manager for Mercy Medical Hospital, affiliated with Catherine Place. Mace said she has seen two flights return home and has seen the warm reception veterans receive.

Booth, of Spanish Fort, is the director of Guardian Programs for Honor Flight South Alabama. Guardians join the war veterans and accompany them on the flight to Washington and back home. Booth also helped organize the placement of a Vietnam memorial at the USS Alabama Battleship Park. He is from Charleston, W. Va., and he graduated from Auburn University and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry.

He served his country as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and spent time in Vietnam as part of the Marine Corps.

Booth is a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Sons of the American Revolution and a life member of the American Legion Post 199 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In 2005 Alabama Gov. Bob Riley appointed Booth to the USS Alabama Battleship Commission, and Booth also serves on the Spanish Fort Education Enrichment Foundation. For several years, he was part of the U.S. Naval Academy’s recruitment program, and he continues to be an active supporter of ROTC programs at local high schools.

The inaugural Honor Flight took place in May of 2005. Six small planes flew out of Springfield, Ohio, taking twelve World War II veterans on a visit to the memorial in Washington, D.C.