Welcome Home Veterans!

Post date: Mar 29, 2016 3:07:27 AM

By: Abbie Schmidt, Staff Writer

Posted November 19th, 2015

I went to welcome the veterans home from their honor flight on November 7th, 2015. While I was there, I got a chance to talk to many people. I heard their stories about why they were there, who they were there for, and where they were from.

One family asked my dad to take a picture, and the mother told us she was afraid she would start crying. That family was from Eau Claire and didn’t know anyone coming home but just wanted to welcome the veterans.

I saw a group of boy scouts who were waiting for the veterans to land and passed their time by playing cards. When the veterans came around, there was one veteran that tried to give high-fives to everyone. I noticed one of the boy scouts ask “Can I have a handshake?” with an outstretched arm.

I spoke to an older woman who divulged that she was waiting for her father. She said that he woke up at 4am that morning so he could make it to the airport on time. She told me they needed to be there at “5:30am, no earlier and no later!” That made for quite a long day because they landed at 9pm!

I saw one woman go out and hug a veteran while she cried. My dad asked if that was her father. She said no and told us he lives at the retirement home she works at.

The place was filled with volunteers, holding up signs saying that there was 1 woman veteran and 75 men veterans that got to go on that flight. Other signs said from what wars the veterans were from along with other facts about them. I saw one volunteer that was head to toe in red, white, and blue.

It was an interesting experience, seeing all of these people that have served our country being cheered for while they cried, most likely overwhelmed by the day they just experienced. I will definitely go again.