Dozens of Korean War and Vietnam War veterans disembarked a plane at the San Diego airport Sunday to a crowd of hundreds of cheering family, friends and supporters.
The 90 veterans had just spent a weekend in Washington, D.C., as part of San Diego’s Honor Flight program, which provides free trips to the nation’s capital for veterans to tour the memorials of the wars they fought in.
A key part of every Honor Flight trip was what took place on Sunday: When they return home, they are greeted by cheering family members, friends and supporters at the airport. The event is meant to give veterans the homecoming they never got when they came back from war decades ago.
“It was an emotional roller coaster all weekend. This just brought it home differently,” said Honor Flight Navy veteran Dick Couch, minutes after Sunday’s event.
As they descended the escalator or elevator from the airport arrival level toward the crowd, veteran after veteran broke into tears. Several stopped to hug fellow veterans or weep in the arms of family. Family members cried too as they took cellphone videos of the crowd honoring their loved ones.
“I’m overwhelmed. We just didn’t expect it,” said Frank Toms, an Honor Flight Navy veteran who lives in Harbison Canyon. “Makes my heart swell up and makes me want to cry.”
San Diego is part of a national nonprofit Honor Flight network that provides free trips to the nation’s capital for veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The program also provides flights for terminally ill veterans of any service era.
In the past 19 years, more than 275,000 veterans have gone on an Honor Flight, and there are about 130 chapters of the network in 44 states, according to the national network’s website.
Since 2010, the San Diego chapter has taken more than 1,800 veterans on trips.
All 90 veterans on Sunday’s trip are veterans of Naval Special Warfare Operations who served in the Korean War or Vietnam War.
Aside from showing appreciation for veterans, several veterans also said the trip became a rare chance for them to heal and process emotions from the wars in a way they had not been able to before.
“It gave me closure,” said George Sousa, an Army veteran of the Korean War and Purple Heart recipient from Point Loma who has welcomed Honor Flight veterans home every year since he went on the trip in 2018.
The homecoming welcome at the airport is important, several veterans say, because that’s something they did not get when they returned home from war decades ago.
When Air Force veteran Rich Frauenzimmer landed back in the U.S. in 1969 after serving in Vietnam, he said he was spat on and had water thrown at him by anti-war protesters in Washington, D.C. Afraid of receiving more abuse, he tried to change out of his uniform for his connecting flight to his home in New Jersey.
Fifty-five years later, on Sunday, he drove down to San Diego from his home in Yorba Linda to give other veterans the warm welcome he didn’t receive. Frauenzimmer, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, said doing this is helping him to process his emotions.
“I need to do this because I know it’s the right thing to do,” said Frauenzimmer, who has submitted an application for a future Honor Flight.
Many in the crowd were veterans, including Lawrence Hinkle, a retired San Diego State University educator who went on an Honor Flight in 2022.
The trip was a whirlwind of emotions, Hinkle said. When he saw the Vietnam War Memorial, he broke down upon locating his father-in-law’s name on the wall.
Hinkle came out on Sunday to give other veterans the Honor Flight welcome he had received. “I want them to appreciate the feeling I had when I came back,” he said.
This past weekend on the San Diego trip, the group visited the Arlington National Cemetery, where they saw the changing of the guard ceremony and visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They visited the Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, U.S. Navy Memorial and Lincoln Memorial, said Honor Flight volunteer Gary Zeugschmidt. Veterans also got a surprise visit from the U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.
Honor Flights are funded entirely by donations so that veterans can go on the trip for free. The San Diego Honor Flight chapter typically holds two trips a year.
The trip costs about $320,000, Zeugschmidt said. The program is entirely volunteer-run, he added.
San Diego currently has a four-year waiting list for trips, Zeugschmidt said. Depending on circumstances such as medical condition, veterans may be moved up the priority list, he said.
Korean and Vietnam war veterans can apply for the program by visiting honorflightsandiego.org. People can donate online by visiting the website or by mailing a check to Honor Flight San Diego, P.O. Box 181309, Coronado, CA 92178.
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