Local veterans make trip to Washington D.C. on Land of Lincoln Honor Flight
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By Steven Spencer
Submitted Photo
Several local veterans got the opportunity to take the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight to Washington D.C. earlier this month. Pictured left to right is Rodney Roentz, Tom Woelfel, Larry Allen, Dale Huey, Bob Dunse, John Dunham.
Several Jersey County veterans were able to start the summer off with a special trip on the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight to visit Washington D.C.
Tom Woelfel, Larry Allen, Dale Huey, Bob Dunse, and John Dunham, along with several other veterans, were able to take the all-expenses paid day trip to Washington D.C. and visit the World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, US Marine Corps Memorial, US Air Force Memorial, and more.
Huey and Woelfel both agreed that it was a special day and a trip they were grateful to have the chance to take. While the trip might be one that some veterans may be reluctant to take, Huey and Woelfel said it’s something that they should reconsider.
“My kids had asked me for years to please go on an honor flight. I had always turned them down. Just something that I didn’t think I wanted to do,” Woelfel said. “My oldest took steps to get me signed up, and he said you don’t have to go but you’ve been accepted to go.”
Woelfel said it was a letter from his son-in-law that helped change his mind in favor of making the trip.
“Consider the experiences then, not in the perspective of thought then, but in the perspective of thought now,” Woelfel said he was told. “That was so insightful, and it made me stop to think those days are gone and people now realize that veterans do sacrifice.”
Huey agreed the trip was well worth it and was glad he went despite originally being reluctant.
“I was very reluctant,” Huey said. “It feels weird for me to walk in a crowd and everyone cheering for me. So I was really reluctant and I am so glad I went.”
One of the things that made the trip special to the veterans was returning home from D.C. When they landed in Springfield on their return, it took the veterans several minutes to walk through the crowd of people lined up welcoming them home.
Returning home from service was a much different experience for a lot of veterans. Huey said he remembered coming home from service and his sergeant telling him he may want to change out of his dress greens.
“He told me, ‘If I was you, if you got blue jeans, I’d change your clothes.’ Back then in the Vietnam era, not everyone liked it,” he said. “It was a total 180 from that. That’s the one thing they all said this time, welcome home.”
Huey and Woelfel said the Land of Lincoln was an emotional, special and humbling experience, and both agreed any veterans reluctant to take the trip should still consider it.
“It was certainly an enlightening event,” Woelfel said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”
“They should do it. You’re missing out on the world,” Huey said. “Well worth it.”
More information on the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight and flight applications can be found online at landoflincolnhonorflight.org.
