A crowd of West Liberty residents gathered at the Quad City Airport late Tuesday, Sept. 17, to welcome home four hometown veterans among the 90 Vietnam and Korean War era vets and 100 volunteers returning from an Honor Flight trip to Washington D.C.
Four men from West Liberty traveled on the flight – Duane Forbes, C. Dean Phelps, Joe Meyers, and Larry Brennen.
Once the four West Liberty men received the call that they were selected, they had to attend an orientation. The orientation took place the weekend before the flight, and they received instructions for the day and a bag of gear that included matching yellow t-shirts, jackets, lanyards, and more. The night before the flight HyVee hosted a dinner for approximately 300 people including the veterans, spouses, and guardians. The dinner was held at the Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf, IA, and as the veterans approached a crowd of approximately 100 HyVee employees and fire fighters greeted them with cheers and clapping. A middle school band played patriotic music.
“I won a beautiful center piece from the dinner,” said Duane Forbes. “They asked whose birthday was closest to the flight, and mine was two days away, so I was the winner.”
The next morning, veterans had a 5:30 a.m. call at the airport. They boarded a chartered flight and flew non-stop to Washington D.C. Once they arrived at Dulles Airport, they were greeted by school aged children that lined the airport from the plane to the parking lot.
“There were kids cheering, thanking us for our service, and welcoming us the entire way through the airport,” said Joe Meyers.
Once they exited the building, they boarded three tour buses - one red, one white, and one blue – and their lanyards matched the color of the bus they loaded. The West Liberty veterans were on the same bus, and tour stops included the National Air and Space Museum, Arlington Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Iwo Jima memorial, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the WWII Memorial, and the Air Force Memorial, among others. The veterans got lots of pictures, and three of them – Larry Brennen, Duane Forbes, and Joe Meyers – were able to get a photo together in front of the WWII Memorial.
“The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was my favorite part,” said Duane Forbes.
The veterans spent the entire day visiting the sites around D.C. and returned to the airport for a 9 p.m. flight back to Moline. The Moline airport was bursting with people waiting to welcome home the veterans including family, friends, military personnel, airport staff, local veterans, Patriot Riders, Quad City Honor Guard, and more. The head count from West Liberty alone totaled over 30 people.
“We were just coming in from a trip out east and saw the crowd and the West Liberty people,” said local resident Tom Lehman. “We went to the car, quickly threw our bags in the trunk, and went back in to join the crowd.”
“The welcome and support we got from our West Liberty friends when we got home was overwhelming,” said Joe Meyers. “The crowd was just amazing.”
All the veterans were extremely grateful to HyVee for sponsoring and funding most of the flight. They highly recommend the experience and encourage other veterans to apply. As for attending a ‘welcome home’ ceremony, the West Liberty crowd said the trip experience wonderful.
“There can be a lot of negativity in the world at times and we are led to believe nothing is good,” said Emily Reed, a West Liberty teacher who had her two young children at the airport. “This experience shows how wrong that perception is and what an amazing community we live in here in West Liberty.”
The Honor Flight was founded in 2005 by Jeff Miller and Earl Morse. When the World War II memorial was completed, both men became concerned that many veterans would never make it to D.C. to see it. Since inception over 300,000 veterans have been flown to Washington D.C. Honor flight has a national staff that supports 131 hubs nationwide, covering 45 states. Iowa has eight hubs. There is also a program called “Lone Eagle” to help fly veterans that do not live close to a local hub. To help facilitate the needs of the veterans, each participant is paired with a volunteer guardian who travels with them the entire way. The guardians for the Quad Cities chapter each pay $400 to cover their own expenses for the trip.
Support the program and learn more online at honorflight.org.