This was the 95th Honor Flight and 117 veterans made the trip, which was sponsored by Ariel Corp., Gahanna Lincoln High School and the Nick Rozanski Memorial Foundation. So far, 6,028 veterans have made the trips, which began as a chance for World War II veterans to visit the new World War II memorial.
It was soon expanded to Korean War-era veterans and, a few years ago, to Vietnam-era veterans.
The veterans were accompanied by volunteer Guardians, who assisted them on the flight and tours.
They had to start early, being at John Glenn International Airport before 5:30 a.m. Arriving at Ronald Reagan International Airport at 8 a.m., they boarded four buses and headed for the Marine Corps (Iwo Jima) Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
While there they visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the graves of John Glenn and Audie Murphy (the most decorated soldier of World War II), the Mast of the Maine and the Challenger Memorial.
After lunch on the bus, it was on to the World War II Memorial, where they met former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, then on to the Korean and Vietnam memorials.
They drove by the Air Force and Navy memorials as well as Federal buildings, then had dinner at the Women’s Memorial before flying back to Columbus, where they were met by the OSU Marching Band and a host of well-wishers.
John Neighbarger
John Neighbarger of Mount Vernon gets almost giddy when talking about his Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.
He couldn’t say enough nice about the organizers of the flight and the “guardians” who accompanied the veterans on the trip.
Neighbarger is a Navy veteran, serving from September 1968 to September 1972. He served a tour in Southeast Asia on the USS Constellation (CVA64), but a bout of typhoid fever put him in the hospital and when he got out the ship was in dry dock, so he was assigned to the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA63), where he served two more nine-month tours.
He was an aviation bosun’s mate handler, one of the sailors directing planes around the flight deck.
After the service, he came back to Mount Vernon and spent 35 years working for American Electric Power, first as a meter reader, then in customer service for 18 years.
He had been to some of the Washington monuments before, but when the trips were opened for Vietnam-era veterans he jumped at the chance to go.
Neighbarger said the highlight of the trip for him was meeting former Senator Dole, a wounded World War II veteran of the 10th Mountain Division who has greeted almost every honor flight group visiting the capital. Dole is a frail 95-years-old and Neighbarger said they were told not to squeeze his hand too tightly. But Dole, he said, took his hand and then patted him on the arm as he got up to leave. Neighbarger also has one of Dole’s coins, Dole’s picture on one side and the Purple Heart, the 10th Mountain Division Insignia and the Combat Infantry Badge on the reverse.
“It was a whirlwind tour of the city,” Neighbarger said, but they had time to linger at many of the sites and the guardians knew exactly how long it would take to tour the site and get back to the tour bus.
“They were also knowledgeable,” he said. “If we had a question, they knew the answer.”
“I didn’t get to meet everyone on the flight, but many of us talked and we’re going to have a reunion in Columbus in November,” Neighbarger said.
Throughout the day, he said, people would come up to them and thank them for their service.
He said that at the changing of he guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the sergeant mounting the guard would alter his step slightly and scuff his feet as he passed the veterans. Because he could not pause to salute the veterans, that was their way of acknowledging them.
At the World War II Memorial, he said, a gust of wind blew his hat into the pool. They couldn’t reach it, but a tourist took off his flip-flops and waded in to get it.
Neighbarger had been to the Vietnam Memorial before, but he took the time to seek out the names of four men he knew from Mount Vernon who had died in the war. They were Roger Dean Algire, Wayne Garven, Dennis Ray Kinnard and Richard Still.
Since coming back, Neighbarger said, he greets every veteran he sees and urges them to sign up for an Honor Flight.
Joseph Zagula
Joseph Zagula is a native of Weirton, W.Va. and came to Mount Vernon in 1986 for a job with Cooper Industries. He was in the Army from 1967 to 1970 and served in an accounting position in Germany.
“I signed up in 2018 and thought it would be 2020 or 2021 before I went, but then I got a call that I could go April 27,” he said.
“It was exciting to be on the flight with all the veterans and to see the (Vietnam) Memorial. . . It was moving. I was able to find the name of a classmate from Weirton, W. Va., John Olenick.”
Zagula said the Word War II Memorial was especially memorable, having involved so many soldiers. He said a man in a W.W.II uniform was at the memorial, carrying a “Kilroy was here” sign. Zagula said he asked about getting a picture and the man said there were two samples of the famous graffiti on the monument, which they found.
“Meeting Sen. Dole was wonderful. He greeted every veteran and patiently sat there until every veteran who wanted to get a picture with him was albe to do so,” Zagula said.
Of the veterans on the trip, he noted, three were World War II veterans, although he didn’t get to meet them.
The ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was especially moving, he said, describing the approach of a pair of school children with a wreath to lay at the memorial. He said he was surprised at how large it was.
He said all day was a steady stream of tourists approaching them and thanking them for their service. And it didn’t stop on the flight home.
When they arrived, “there were so many people there cheering us and thanking us for our service. One of the attendants said he wanted to give everyone a hug as they left the plane.”
He urged every eligible veteran to make the trip. “They will take care of you. If you have special diet needs, they will take care of it. If you have medicine to take, they will make sure you get them on time.
“It was a long day, but not exhausting. It was exhilarating. I felt good at the end of the day.”
Keith Holtry
Keith Holtry was born and raised in Morrow County, graduating from Highland High School. He would then go on to serve two years, from 1966 to 1968, in the United States Marine Corps stationed between California and North Carolina, with brief trips to the Caribbean.
After his service, he would return to the area, eventually settling down in Fredericktown where he would start a family and work for American Electric Power for the next 35 years.
He first heard about the trip through family, friends, and his father-in-law, a World War II vet who went on the trip. Upon his return, Holtry said seeing his excitement, along with the information he had, was enough to sign up for the trip.
“Overall, it was a great experience,” Holtry said. “I was overwhelmed by all those who were involved and their dedication to the program.”
He remembers talking to one of the Guardians, a nurse, who said that the waiting list to be a Guardian was a three-year wait.
One of the most memorable moments for Holtry was finding the name of his cousin, Daniel Holtry, who served in 1969, on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
“I was very humbled by it,” he said. “It took a while to digest” he said, thinking about the trip and all that they had experienced.
He remembers coming home from the Vietnam War to find protesters, not the hero’s welcome he was expecting. “The Honor Flight kind of makes up for some of the things we missed out on when coming home from the war,” Holtry said. “This program gives us, the veterans, an idea that we were fighting for a worthy cause.”
He is very grateful to the local sponsor, Ariel. They are putting value into the men who served, Holtry said, and they’re making these people feel like they are important.
Bill Wells
Bill Wells served in the Army during the Vietnam War in the Army between the years of 1970 and 1974, serving time in Okinawa, Japan. He would then go on to serve 17 years in the National Guard, before coming back to the area.
“It was a great day,” Wells said thinking over the trip, even though he said they didn’t get home until close to midnight that night.
He first heard about the Honor Flight program through television. After that, he said, he waited for two years before getting the call to go on the April 27 trip.
“Over a hundred people were there to welcome us. It brought tears to my eyes,” he said, talking about arriving at the Columbus airport.
Overall, he was very impressed by all he saw. From the changing of the guard, the Korean War Memorial, and seeing Sen. Dole, the whole trip was memorable, Wells said.
The WWII Memorial, he said, was the most impressive. The Vietnam Memorial brought back some memories, but because of the amount of names on the wall, he could not find anyone that he knew.
Being wheelchair bound during the trip, Wells said the Guardians helped out a lot. They worked very hard in getting him around the different monuments.
The welcome home group was even bigger than the group that was there when they left, Wells said. The closing ceremony lasted until close to 11 p.m., everyone wanting to shake hands with the veterans.
“It’s worth it to sign up,” Wells said, encouraging other veterans to take the trip. “You can only do it once.”
