The nearly three dozen pilots chosen for the Navy’s presidential salute from the skies may come from different backgrounds, families, and levels of experience, but their respect for former President Jimmy Carter is uniting them for a mission unique to their careers.

Jimmy Carter’s legacy includes working to eradicate tropical diseases in Africa, South America and Asia and to end conflicts in places like Syria, Israel and Sudan. But the late former president’s efforts also live on in the wild places of his native Georgia that he worked as governor and president to protect.

Carter’s long public goodbye began Saturday in the state where the 39th U.S. president was born, lived and died.