Hundreds of family, friends, and well-wishers crowded the baggage claim area at the San Diego Airport Sunday to welcome home 80 World War II veterans from the Honor Flight San Diego.
“This is the biggest crowd I’ve seen since World War II ended,” Clair ‘CP’ Martin a veteran of 29th Infantry Division who was at Omaha Beach on D-Day joked after arriving at the airport.
The veterans returned from Washington D.C. after a weekend touring the capital’s memorials.
“Probably the most emotional part was the World War II Memorial,” Lane Cole a veteran of the Army Air Corps said. “There are 4000 gold stars – each one representing 100 lives lost. And out in front it says, ‘The price of freedom’…It’s too bad everybody in the United States can’t see it.”
People lined the way to the exit holding up American flags, handing out flowers, and shaking the veterans’ hands while thanking them for their service.
“The first time I came home I didn’t get that kind of greeting,” veteran Ronald Coulter kidded his wife Florence after an emotional kiss.
The Honor Flight San Diego is a non-profit branch of the nationwide Honor Flight Network that takes World War II veterans to the capital to see their memorials.
“What a wonderful, wonderful thing,” George Townsend, a veteran of the Army Signal Corps told NBC7. “I had a wonderful trip.”
97-year-old Navy veteran Fred Dahl said he liked everything about the trip. “The Capital is real nice,” he said.
In August Honor Flight San Diego held a fundraiser to raise $80,000 for this trip, and they plan another flight next spring. Honor Flight also serves other senior veterans and veterans who may be terminally ill. People who want to donate can go to their website.
