“It’s unreal” veterans moved by seeing monuments during honor flight

WASHINGTON – After a super rainy day one, day two of the Veterans Honor Flight brought some much better weather for our local veterans.

A police escort made sure they made it to all the monuments in time. First, the national archives where they saw the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, documents these veterans served and fought to protect. Then on to deeply moving memorials for wars many of these men fought in, and lost friends and family to.

Veteran Jacob DeHaan paid tribute to his older brother who died in a Korean POW camp.

“It’s unreal,” DeHaan said.

Then the veterans make a grand display at the World War II memorial. Every single service member gathering for a photo. The trip and these monuments a thank you to these vets and a reminder to never forget what our service members sacrifice.

Jim Boley of Minot served in Korea and Vietnam.

“It reflects on the service of some of these guys who got no credit for what they sacrificed, and some of them sacrificed a lot,” Boley explained.

“It’s just so important that everybody can come and see what went on and how many of our people died for our freedom,” Vietnam Veteran Jerry Walker said.

After Monday’s whirlwind journey around Washington, DC, our veterans will be back at Hector International Airport in Fargo around 7:50 p.m. They want a huge crowd out there to give them a hero’s welcome home.