'It's so well-deserved': Honor Flight veterans visit memorials, monuments, and museums

WASHINGTON D.C. — The busiest day for the South Willamette Valley Honor Flight is in the books as nearly five dozen local veterans made their way around Washington, D.C.

The group did not skip a beat Saturday as they visited memorials, monuments, and museums.

Their longest stop of the day was at the site of the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and Vietnam Wall.

The Vietnam Wall always brings out a variety of emotions, and Saturday was no different - with tears, silence, and heads bowed.

They saw one man with his grandfather, both crying at the site of those lost in the long war.

“It was just really sobering to see the gravity, when you hear 48,000, and it’s just a statistic and it goes right through you,” said Austin Chart, the grandson of a veteran, “but to see 48,000 names written out and to see how much space that takes, and that’s just their name written on a stone.”

“It’s emotional when you lose someone,” said veteran Gary Covert, “and after 50 years I remember them and I still, every once and awhile, get my old cruise book out and look at pictures and remember all of these people and all of the things that have been going on at that time. There was a lot of good times, and the bad times, they really stick out.”

What also stuck out Saturday was their visit to the Women in Military Service for America Memorial.

Five female veterans are being honored on the Honor Flight trip, including one former Marine who served in the early 1960s and expressed her appreciation for the museum.

“This is wonderful,” said veteran Karen Reeves. “It’s a long time coming, and it’s so well-deserved. It just needs to be more well-known, and all the services are great, and the women that make that step up, you have to be proud of them.”

They also visited the World War II Memorial, Americans Disabled for Life Memorial, Marine Memorial and more.

The Honor Flight continues Sunday, and we’ll have coverage of the veterans’ return-arrival back in Oregon late Sunday night.