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Participant: Korean and Vietnam War Veterans Get the Welcome They’ve Deserved

AFCEA NOVA Chapter joined forces with Honor Flight Chicago for the 108th flight to the nation’s capital.

Ralph Deschaaf had assisted 199 survivors of the HMAS Melbourne and USS Frank E. Evans collision at sea in 1969, for which he and his crewmates were awarded Outstanding Performance of Duty. Photo by Diego Laje

Misty-eyed and forever grateful, AFCEA NOVA Chapter volunteers gathered at Dulles International Airport on June 14 for the 108th honor flight from Chicago to welcome 120 Korean War and Vietnam veterans.

Clad in red shirts and waving handheld American Flags, they lined the corridor between baggage claim and the exit to offer spirited welcomes, praise, handshakes, fist bumps, smiles and adoration to the aging U.S. veterans who had come to the nation’s capital on a special program.

Attendee Kevin Haimovici, who served in the U.S. Army until 2007, contrasted the different ways Americans welcomed home troops from various deployments. It’s a painful memory for some that during the Korean and Vietnam wars, some returning troops were not welcomed as heroes. "The welcome we got when home and the welcome they got home are completely different. Now they’re getting the recognition they really deserve and that they should have had all those years,” Haimovici said.

Accompanied by friends, family and Honor Flight volunteers, the combat vets made their way down the long and loud aisle of volunteers who thanked them for their service. One veteran commented to a volunteer that the Honor Flight and cheering crowd was the second-best thing to happen to him—the first being the birth of his daughter.

NOVA Chapter President Sean Caulfield, whose dad was a Vietnam veteran, said the June 14 experience was emotionally overwhelming. "I was at the front and watching them come down, and as soon as they saw the line of red shirts, they were just taken back.”

One Honor Flight volunteer said the cheering group organized by the NOVA Chapter was the largest he'd seen at Dulles since he started volunteering in 2009.

Chapter member and AFCEA Emerging Leader Carole Coburn got emotional as she stood in line and greeted and thanked the arriving veterans. "I can't imagine how they felt—joining the military, some at a young age—and experiencing the heaviness of what they were agreeing to," she said, referring to combat veterans.

Tearful Catherine Soliday said the event was very personal and she encourages more people to attend future gatherings to honor these national heroes. “My Pop-Pop is a retired veteran from the Air Force, he was in the Vietnam War, and just coming from a family that has that background and being able to be here and see veterans—this is an amazing experience,” she said of the 150+ people who descended on Dulles Airport to welcome the veterans as part of the Honor Flight program,. The program, run by volunteer organizations, has given more than 200,000 veterans from more than 130 locations across the United States the opportunity to visit the nation's capital and the memorials to honor fallen service members.

According to his Honor Flight biography, Willie Smith, a two-time Bronze Star recipient, who served with the Army‘s 173rd “The Herd” in Vietnam as a mortarman. Smith said he opted to serve two tours in Vietnam rather than return home following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Photo by Diego Laje

AFCEA NOVA’s Small Business Committee organized the gathering. Participant Barbara Osborne said events such as this can inspire younger generations. “We don’t understand what people have given for our country, and the only way that you can maybe begin to understand that, if you’re not going to serve yourself, is to be around these veterans.”

For three young attendees, it was important for the "older" generation to know how much their military service and sacrifices are respected by the "younger" generation, they said. "We appreciate them and won't forget what they did for us," said Michael Gibbs, 15, who attended with his twin brother Patrick Gibbs and friend Josh Hart, 14.

Passengers of the flight included eight Korean War veterans, 111 Vietnam War veterans and 89-year-old Army chief warrant officer Narvin Efferson, who served in both wars. Of the veterans, 15 had earned a Bronze Star and 10 the Purple Heart.

Caulfield says the plan is to do this again—donating this time can make all the difference in the lives of those who served.

AFCEA NOVA thanks event sponsors SES Space Systems & Defense; Altagrove, Applied Technical Systems (ATS); and Phoenix Operations Group for making this event happen.

SIGNAL Media’s Sandra Jontz and editorial intern Lizzie Stone contributed to this report.