Iolans Daniel Roush and Gene Myrick were among the guests of honor as Southern Coffey County High School hosted its 26th Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.
Roush and Myrick were among the 22 veterans — each assigned a student guardian — for a packed two-day excursion through the nation’s capital Thursday and Friday.
The trip included a visit to Arlington National Cemetery where they were able to watch the changing of the guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
“You can see that on TV, but to experience it in person was just unreal,” said Myrick, a 24-year veteran of the National Guard and Army Reserves.
Other stops included the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, the U.S. Marine Corps memorial — known for its famed sculpture of the Marines planting a flag following the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II, as well as stops at the Roosevelt Memorial and Ford’s Theater (where President Lincoln was assassinated).
Access to the White House was limited due to construction and fencing, event organizer Jeff True noted.
VISITING the Vietnam Memorial was especially powerful for the Iolans.
Roush served two years in Vietnam with an engineer’s group helping build a road through Vietnam, a seemingly innocuous task, but one riddled with danger.
“I had quite a few close calls,” Roush recalled. “I should have been dead a couple of times.”
As it was, one of his duties — to look for booby traps along the route where the planned construction was to take place — had plenty of tension.
While at the wall, Roush found the name of one of his old schoolmates, while Myrick found the name of his uncle, Ernest Reynolds of Oklahoma, who was shot down while flying a Medivac chopper.
THE EXCURSION also included a special “Mail Call,” where the veterans were given correspondence written by spouses and loved ones.
Myrick said the letters were dropped onto a table, where he spotted one penned by his wife on top. “It was the first thing I saw,” he said. “It brought tears to my eyes.
BLOOMING cherry blossom trees added to the atmosphere as the contingent walked along through various sights.
A passing cold front on Friday brought brisk winds, which in turn blew off many of the blower blossom blooms, so many that it looked like fresh snow had fallen, Myrick recalled.
BUT FOR both, the reception they received, both en route to Washington and back at Kansas City on the return flight, was perhaps the most special part of the trip.
