Dozens of Korean War and Vietnam War veterans stepped off a plane at the San Diego airport Sunday before a crowd of hundreds of cheering family, friends and supporters.
The 90 veterans had just spent a weekend in Washington, D.C., as part of San Diego’s Honor Flight program, which provides free trips to the nation’s capital for veterans to visit memorials of the wars in which they served. fought.
A key part of every Honor Flight trip was what happened on Sunday: upon returning home, they are greeted by enthusiastic family, friends and supporters at the airport. The event aims to give veterans the homecoming they never had when they returned from war decades ago.
“It was an emotional roller coaster all weekend. It just brought us home differently,” Honor Flight Navy veteran Dick Couch said minutes after Sunday’s event.
Navy veteran Father John Siebert, a retired Navy SEAL, is overcome with emotion as he greets supporters after returning to San Diego from an Honor Flight tour, at the San Diego International Airport on Sunday.
(Sandy Huffaker / For the San Diego Union-Tribune)
As they descended the escalator or elevator from the airport arrivals level into the crowd, veteran after veteran burst into tears. Many stopped to hug fellow veterans or cry in the arms of their families. Family members also cried as they took cellphone videos of the crowds honoring their loved ones.
“I’m overwhelmed. We just didn’t expect it,” said Frank Toms, an Honor Flight Navy veteran who lives in Harbison Canyon. “It makes my heart swell and it makes me want to cry. »
San Diego is part of a national nonprofit Honor Flight network that provides free trips to the nation’s capital to veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The program also offers flights for terminally ill veterans from any era of service.
Over the past 19 years, more than 275,000 veterans have taken an Honor Flight and there are approximately 130 chapters of the network in 44 states, according to the national network’s website.
Since 2010, the San Diego chapter has taken more than 1,800 veterans on trips.
The 90 veterans on Sunday’s trip are naval special operations veterans who served in the Korean War or Vietnam War.
In addition to showing their appreciation for veterans, several veterans also said the trip became a rare opportunity for them to heal and process the emotions of wars in a way they had not been able to before .
“It gave me closure,” said George Sousa, a Korean War Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient from Point Loma, who has hosted Honor Flight veterans at his home every year since his trip in 2018.
The welcome back at the airport is important, many veterans say, because it’s something they didn’t have when they returned from war decades ago.
When Air Force veteran Rich Frauenzimmer returned to the United States in 1969 after serving in Vietnam, he said anti-war protesters spat on him and had water thrown at him. dumped on it in Washington, DC. Fearing further abuse, he tried to change his mind. out of his uniform for his connecting flight to his home in New Jersey.
Fifty-five years later, on Sunday, he traveled to San Diego from his home in Yorba Linda to give other veterans the warm welcome he didn’t receive. Frauenzimmer, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, said it helps him manage his emotions.
“I have to do it because I know it’s the right thing to do,” said Frauenzimmer, who has submitted an application for a future honor flight.
Many in the crowd were veterans, including Lawrence Hinkle, a retired San Diego State University educator who took an honor flight in 2022.
The trip was a whirlwind of emotions, Hinkle said. When he saw the Vietnam War memorial, he collapsed when he found his father-in-law’s name on the wall.
Hinkle came out Sunday to greet other veterans on the honor flight he received. “I want them to appreciate the feeling I had when I came back,” he said.
Last weekend, during their trip to San Diego, the group visited Arlington National Cemetery, where they attended the changing of the guard ceremony and visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They visited the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, the U.S. Navy Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, said Honor Flight volunteer Gary Zeugschmidt. . The veterans also received a surprise visit from U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.
Honor Flights are funded entirely by donations so veterans can take the trip for free. The San Diego Honor Flight chapter typically hosts two trips per year.
The trip costs about $320,000, Zeugschmidt said. The program is run entirely by volunteers, he added.
San Diego currently has a four-year waiting list for trips, Zeugschmidt said. Depending on circumstances such as their health, veterans may be moved up the priority list, he said.
Veterans of the Korean War and Vietnam can apply for the program by visiting honorflightsandiego.org. People can donate online by visiting the website or sending a check to Honor Flight San Diego, PO Box 181309, Coronado, CA 92178.
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