Local veterans take part in Honor Flight

By: 
Michaela Kendall

WATERLOO – Several Grundy County veterans were among 100 northeast Iowa vets to visit Washington D.C. last Tuesday as part of the Sullivan, Hartogh, and Davis Honor Flight out of Waterloo.
Two Wellsburg men who took part in the flight, Stan Hippen and Gary James, agreed that the Honor Flight was an experience unlike any other.
“I’m so grateful to have been a part of this,” Hippen said. “The [organizers of the event] worked hard to make us feel very important and very honored.”
After departing at 5:30 a.m., with a convoy of fire trucks and police cars waving them off, the group of veterans spent the day touring Washington D.C. and visiting various war memorials and monuments.
For Hippen and James, one of the most memorable moments of the day was visiting their monument: the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
Both drafted for the Vietnam War, Hippen served in Germany from 1964 to 1966, and James served in the Central Highlands of Vietnam from 1969 to 1970.
Because of the low public approval of the war in Vietnam, many soldiers returned home to protestors.
For others, like Hippen and James, their return home was quiet, and they went back to their normal lives with no special acknowledgment or recognition.
“Back then, they didn’t really make a big deal about coming home,” Hippen said. “It was just a normal thing; you went and you served, and you came home.”
That’s what made it so special for Hippen and James when their flight returned home, and the disembarking veterans were greeted by a jubilant crowd of 300 people during the “coming home” celebration.
“It kind of trumped everything else,” he said. “Everyone there was cheering and thanking us and wanting to shake our hands. It almost brought tears to your eyes.”
For the full story, see the September 22 edition of The Grundy Register.

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