Vietnam veterans on the Honor Flight are pictured here in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
We got to see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington and our group laid a wreath. One thing our tour guide told us to watch for was when the Sentinel came out to change the guard, he is not allowed to avert his eyes or anything so whenever there is a group of vets there from an Honor Flight, he scuffs his right heel with each step as he walks in front of them as a way of recognizing that they are there. It is the only sound he is allowed to make until the changing of the guard starts. Tat alone brought me to tears. Ten during the laying of the Wreath and Taps, it was so moving to see these men ranging from 76-100 stand at absolute
attention and salute. Tears literally flowing down my face. Te Sentinel was awesome with the four gentlemen doing the wreath—he was very deferential to them and you could just see how honored he felt to help them.
Tere was an honor guard for them at the WWII memorial and some Marine sang the national anthem. Ten we went to the Vietnam Wall. My vet wanted to find the name of one of his helicopter pilots who was shot down while evacuating the wounded. When we found his name on the wall, both of us were sobbing.
Te whole group was alternately hilarious and touching. I offered my vet a poncho at one point in the rain and he informed me “Airborne does not need ponchos.” Mike’s vet was a sniper from Vietnam. I chatted with a WWII vet for a while and he kept trying to hold doors for me because “my mother would take a switch to me if I didn’t treat a woman right.” He also told me how they lost their cotton farm out near San Angelo during the Depression and how they were hopeful that things would improve with the Election of 1932—he even sang FDR’s campaign song for me. Te 100-year-old guy was Patton’s chauffeur for a while and had fought all the way through Italy early in the war.
One of the coolest things also was the crowds of people everywhere we went coming up to thank the vets for their service. Standing ovations in airports. My vet told me he had eggs thrown at him when he returned from his second tour so when he came home from his third tour, he was smart enough to change to civilian clothes before he got off the plane. Seeing his face with the crowds cheering and thanking them was amazing.
It was an event of a lifetime that I will not forget.
One of the veterans searches the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall for the name of a fallen comrade.
TPI Turf News November/December 2018
Karen Cooper is executive director of Turfgrass Producers international All photos by Karen Cooper.
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