Kansas Honor Flight returns from Washington, D.C.
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The latest Kansas Honor Flight returned on Wednesday after taking Kansas veterans to Washington, D.C., to see the monuments.
“I just know how much he gave up,” Judy Hill, the daughter of a 104-year-old veteran, said. “I’m near tears. When I was a little girl, I always wondered what it felt like to be with royalty. Today, I know.”
Hill said being a part of the honor flight and honoring her dad came as a bit of a shock.
“I hadn’t planned to be part of honoring my dad; that didn’t come about until last night; it was kind of a big surprise,” Hill said. “I was here to honor a friend of mine of almost 60 years that had three tours in Vietnam, and the homecomings weren’t good.”
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Larry Havel, a Vietnam War veteran, said he had a good time on the visit as well.
“To see somebody you used to know, you know,” Havel said. “It’s overwhelming. Good flight, good company, good eating. Had a lot of laughs, giggling, you know, like a bunch of kids. Like we’re kind of all young again.”
The veterans who returned from the Kansas Honor Flight were met with cheers from a crowd of people supporting their military service. Havel said it was a stark difference from when he returned from Vietnam.
“We come off the plane, and people are throwing stuff at us and calling us names. I said, ‘We got out of Hell and walked right back into it,'” Havel said. “Oh my God, it’s no comparison. I wasn’t ready for this. I wasn’t expecting anybody.”
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