Two Washington veterans take honor flight

WASHINGTON — Veterans Jerry Graber and Eugene Carpenter embarked on the 48th Eastern Iowa Honor Flight last week, along with almost 90 others from this side of the state donning red shirts and white hats.

After some initial air travel delays, Carpenter said the group toured a series of monuments in the nation’s capital, visited the White House and watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

“I was hoping to see the name of one of my school mates who passed away,” Carpenter said. “He didn’t make the first class reunion, so we lost him quite early.”

The highlight of the trip for Carpenter — who enlisted during the Vietnam War — was the return home at the day’s end.

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He said veterans were greeted with a large crowd, cheering, applauding and holding signs as the group disembarked from their plane Wednesday night in Cedar Rapids.

The Vietnam War, wildly unpopular with the American public, saw service members scorned as they came home. Carpenter said he returned to college stateside, only to find that “the people of America hated” recent servicepeople like himself.

The red-carpet-like reception waiting in Cedar Rapids offered a stark contrast from that experience.

Carpenter said the welcoming committee was a sight for sore eyes as the group rounded a corner and found hundreds of people lining the walls, greeting veterans and shaking their hands as they walked by.

“It’s like we’re trying to make up for what we didn’t do 50 years ago … Us Vietnam veterans, we finally get to be welcomed home after all these years,” he said. “And it’s a painful experience, because the memories of what it was like back then, come to the forefront. But it’s kind of putting to rest the painful experience that was a bad part of the history of our country.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com