On Saturday, September 26, veterans on Honor Flight of Southern Indiana’s 21st flight to Washington, D.C., returned to Evansville Regional Airport. Family, friends, and community members gathered to welcome them home. WFIE reported that more than 60 veterans and their guardians arrived that evening after a day visiting several war memorials in the nation’s capital. The organizer’s archived September calendar identifies this flight as EVV21 and lists a public welcome-home parade at the airport.
The veterans were wheels up around 7 a.m., WFIE reported. In Washington, the group toured multiple war memorials before making the return trip to southern Indiana. The plane landed around 7 p.m. WFIE’s report followed the flight home with interviews from several veterans, including Joyce Schutz, Wayne Barron and Martin Hartzel. Their accounts describe moments from both the visit to Washington and the welcome in Evansville.
Before the flight, the organization published an EVV21 welcome-home flyer for community members. It estimated arrival at about 6:45 p.m. and the parade beginning at 7:15, and asked people to bring flags, signs or banners. Those details were advance guidance, not an exact record of arrival. The dated calendar lists the parade as a public event from 5:30 to 10 p.m. at Evansville Regional Airport. WFIE’s report later put the landing at about 7 p.m.
The homecoming was one part of a longer community effort around EVV21. The organizer’s calendar listed a mail-call drive from August 24 through September 17 and called it an important part of each veteran’s Honor Flight experience. It invited schools, churches, organizations, businesses, scouts, clubs and families to send thank-you messages. A September 22 sorting event asked volunteers to help sort mail for EVV21 veterans. That listing said volunteers would sort the “hundreds of pieces of mail” received for EVV21 veterans; it did not provide a final count. The calendar also listed a closed meet-and-greet on September 24 for the veterans and guardians who would travel together; it described the dinner as the first time everyone going on the flight would be together. These were organizer-reported plans and descriptions; the calendar does not say how many messages arrived or how many people helped.
Schutz, one of two women on the flight, described both parts of the day to WFIE. She said seeing the monuments in Washington was breathtaking and the crowd waiting in Evansville was unforgettable. Schutz had expected a crowd when they landed, but had not expected the level of appreciation she felt. Before the trip, she said, she kept thinking her own turn to experience it would come one day. Upon seeing the airport crowd, she described the parade and reception as more emotional than the monuments in Washington. “I’m elated. I’m more emotional coming home to this parade and reception,” she told WFIE.
Barron’s account centered on a name at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He searched the wall, which bears more than 50,000 names, for Dave, a fellow service member. Barron told WFIE that the two served together for about three of the four years they were in the service. He knew Dave had gone toward Vietnam but did not know where to look for his name. Barron’s grandson helped him find it etched into the wall. He made a paper rubbing and told WFIE, “It just brings back a lot of memories. A lot of tears.”
WFIE also interviewed Hartzel, 86, who served from 1958 to 1979 and had flown on Honor Flight 12. Hartzel said he enjoyed recognizing some of the people and described the experience as an honor for him and everyone who had served. He noted that many people he recognized had served for at least 20 years and retired. Asked what he would tell seniors deciding what to do after high school, he said, “join the military.” He added, “It’s quite the experience, plus the paychecks ain’t bad.”
WFIE reported that the next Honor Flight is scheduled for spring, though it did not give a specific date.
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