Honor Flight Veterans See More Monuments Before Returning Home to Grand Forks

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR) — Veterans wrap up their tour of the D.C. area with a trip to historic Fort Henry.

But first, they spent some hours absorbing the Lincoln Monument and war memorials on the National Mall.

And the experience let them share parts of themselves they don’t often discuss.

It is a hidden wound. Looking across the mall, until you’re right on top of the Vietnam memorial, you’d never know it was there at all.

Gregory Carson, looking for Gregory Carson.

But it’s what so many of them like John Martinson have come all this way to see.

“Hockenschmidt. David Hockenschmidt.”

A name spoken not much in 50 years but never once stopped remembering.

John Martinson of Alexandria, says, “David was the first to get hit. They evaced him out of there. Then the platoon leader with him fell down, and we didn’t know what happened.”

Hidden in their hearts…

He adds, “November 12 was a bad day. Lost a lot of people that day.”

…are the final images of a friend’s last moments on the battlefield. “When he got to the hospital he had no pulse.”

And the hidden question that won’t go away: Why wasn’t it me.

“That’s part of the survivor guilt, why wasn’t it me. It was part of readjusting. And even as long ago as it was, I still think about it.”

Raymond Radke of Dilworth, says, “We had a medic, running around, holding his belly in. He got hit real bad.”

Radke remembers it all too. But there’s a different name that stays with him. “You never knew when it was coming, gunfire all around, rockets, mortar you name it.”

At first, he thought it was just age creeping in.

Radke says, “things start to fail. First the heart, then the diabetes. Stents after that. Valves a couple years ago. It’s leaking.”

But then, his doctors used the name, too.

“Doctors. The Agent Orange thing started coming out. Everywhere you touched it; you breathed it.”

If you’ve ever visited the Vietnam Memorial, it’s an extraordinary feeling. As you walk down, you start to wonder if the sinking feeling is a physical sensation because you are actually going down.. or because the names keep multiplying. And with it the weight of human suffering.

Ray had to retire early because of his health.

“We have great doctors so we’re pretty well set.”

John actually tracked down his platoon leader who actually made it out alive, but with shrapnel still lodged in his heart.

Martinson says, “He made it. His pericardium was full of blood and he said the navy gave him a free cruise in the South Asia sea.”

And on this trip of a lifetime, maybe they’re heading home with those hidden wounds starting to heal.

“We trusted each other with our lives. He trusted me, I trusted him. and some of us made it home.”