Honor Flight takes Jacksonville-area veterans to visit D.C.'s military monuments ahead of Memorial Day

"Amazing."

That's what Vietnam War veteran George Pieper kept saying after seeing all the war memorials in the nation's capital as part of the second First Coast Honor Flight.

A U.S. Navy chief petty officer assigned in the late 1960s to Adm. John S. McCain Jr.'s Pacific Command, Pieper joined 23 others who fought in World War II, Vietnam and Korea for the free daylong trip to Washington's military tributes a week before Memorial Day.

"It was the Changing of the Guard that really got my attention," the 85-year-old Fleming Island man said of the Arlington National Cemetery ceremony, "although all the monuments were awesome. It was so fantastic."

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Lou Urso was a U.S. Army sergeant in the 1st Cavalry in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. The Southside Jacksonville man said he had tried to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in years past during his annual Post Office postmaster meetings in Washington, D.C. But his emotions got in the way.

"I could never go to the Vietnam Wall," he said. "In fact, this time I made it just about to the top of the hill and I just broke down crying. I just can't look at it. I know too many names that are on that wall."

Honorable nonprofit tradition

Founded in 2005, the nonprofit Honor Flight Network takes World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and critically ill veterans to visit the memorials. It has 125 hubs nationwide in 45 states and has taken about 246,000 veterans as of December.

First Coast Honor Flight became the 10th Florida hub in 2020, with about 167,000 veterans, 65,000 of them ages 65 and older. Working with veterans in a nine-county area in and around Jacksonville, these twice-a-year flights will allow more Florida service members to make the trip.

This was only First Coast Honor Flight's second trip. The inaugural flight was postponed from March 2020 until October 2021 due to COVID-19. This journey included three World War II veterans, four who fought in the Korean War and 17 from Vietnam.

All of them, including 98-year-old World War II Navy veteran Edith Joy Casino, were sent off by flag-waving family and friends at Jacksonville International Airport when they flew on May 21, coincidentally Armed Forces Day.

Memories made

Urso, hit by a rocket-powered grenade in an hours-long firefight in Pleiku, was awarded two Bronze Stars after pulling another injured soldier from the firefight. That soldier "died in my arms, really traumatic," he said.

But Saturday's airport send-off and the trip were so fulfilling, he said.

"We were treated terribly when we came back. That was the worst of the experiences that I've had in my life," Urso said. "But I tell you, this Honor Flight was one of the highlights of my life so far."

"I have never been saluted, I have never been flag-waved," Pieper added. "We were all flag-waved, and everyone said, 'Thank you, thank you for putting your life on the line.'"

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So many of them on this pre-Memorial Day flight were quite excited to go, despite the pre-dawn departure and a full day in Washington, Honor Flight President Selena Hernandez-Haines said.

"Everybody was so charged up to go, of course," said Hernandez-Haines, a Navy veteran herself. "... Veterans and guardians rendezvoused at the gathering point on the Westside at 2:15 a.m., and our flight left at 6:30 a.m. There was so much excitement and chatter, and really on the plane home there was still an incredible amount of excitement. Not everybody slept."

Just being with other veterans also was emotional, Pieper said.

"To see them with such a fantastic group of guys and one young lady there who was 98, that was pretty awesome," he said.

Changing of the Guard

They also headed to Arlington National Cemetery for the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns and the Military Women's Memorial.

All of the monuments are powerful, Hernandez-Haines said. But some of the veterans had strong reactions to certain ones, she said.

"For Vietnam veterans, it's the wall. They are excited to see everything, but they want to see the wall; they want to see the statues," she said. "The Korean War veterans want to see their memorial. ... The keystone moment of the trip is the visit to Arlington National Cemetery and the Changing of the Guard."

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The Honor Flight veterans were in the first row for the traditional ceremony, "solemn and emotional" for them, she said.

"Everybody is kind of quiet after that," Hernandez-Haines said, adding the veterans got off the bus near the USS Maine Memorial that overlooks the remains of those who died when the ship exploded in 1898 off Havana.

Pieper agreed, saying it was "such a trip" to see the precision of the soldiers at the Changing of the Guard.

Each veteran, most in wheelchairs, was joined by guardians who helped them the entire day. They were selected via veterans councils and organizations as well as just "spreading the word" to people who might know someone who would like the one-day trip, Hernandez-Haines said. Each flight costs between $25,000 and $30,000, funded via private and corporate donations, with no government support, she said.

"It was so perfectly aimed at the happiness and joy of the individuals," Pieper said of the way the veterans were treated.

The next First Coast Honor Flight is on Oct. 15. For more information go to firstcoasthonorflight.org.

dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549

Remembering those who died for our country

• Jacksonville's annual Memorial Day observance is at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Veterans Memorial Wall at 1145 E. Adams St. The ceremony will honor those Jacksonville men and women who served and died in service of their country. Four names have been added this past year: Calvin T. Rockward III, U.S. Army; Christian M. Tette, U.S. Army; Adam D. Pecaut, U.S. Navy; and Michael L. Jordan, U.S. Navy. 

The Navy Band Southeast, Jacksonville Children’s Chorus and Voices of Jacksonville will provide music, with U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Calvert Worth Jr. a the keynote speaker. Open to the public, free parking is available in TIAA Bank Field Lots J and P. 

• The Clay County Commission, library system and the Garden Club of Middleburg unveiled a new Blue Star marker on May 21 at the Middleburg-Clay Hill Library as a permanent tribute to all men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Services. 

• Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry joined representatives from the Military Affairs and Veterans Department and Veterans Council of Duval County on Tuesday to unveil a permanent plaque honoring military veterans at James Weldon Johnson Park.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Honor Flight takes Jacksonville-area veterans to DC war memorials