‘Seeing this is just incredible’: Vietnam, Korean war veterans surprised by warm reception from Spokane airport crowd

A thunderous band, waving American flags and dozens of cheering people made for a hero’s welcome Tuesday night at the Spokane International Airport.

It was the first pleasant welcome as a group that some of the veterans had ever received.

“When we came home from the war in the ’70s, we were hated, basically,” said Bill O’Halloran, a Vietnam War-era veteran who served in another country. “There was no parade, no honor, and seeing this is just incredible.”

The crowd of young and old, family and friends, and veterans and civilians welcomed over 100 Vietnam and Korean war veterans who returned from Washington, D.C., after a long day of visiting memorials and honoring and remembering the thousands of soldiers lost in American wars.

Four Korean War veterans and 103 Vietnam veterans made the cross-country trip organized and paid for by the Inland Northwest Honor Flight, said Tony Lamanna, director of the organization.

The veterans departed Spokane on Monday morning before returning to applause Tuesday night. Veterans walked through the airport terminal as supporters, a few holding “Welcome Back” signs, clapped and shouted on either side of the roped off aisle.

O’Halloran said he didn’t expect to see the large group of supporters.

“It just blows me away to see all these people coming out to celebrate what we did, because without our servicemen, we don’t have a country,” a tearful O’Halloran said.

Dave Schwartz, another Vietnam veteran, was also surprised by the welcome, calling it “very emotional.”

“It blew me out of the saddle,” he said. “I just didn’t expect anything like this.”

Lamanna said veterans told him on past trips that the warm greeting helped heal them, and they finally felt like they came home.

“When they see the support now, they say that it really releases a lot of resentment that they’ve held for so many years over how they were treated,” he said.

Lamanna said it was the first time in the organization’s 14-year history that a World War II veteran did not make the trip, as the number of elder veterans from the 1940s war dwindles.

“Well, for me, it’s particularly sad that we’re close to the end of that generation,” Lamanna said.

As always, veterans visited memorials including the Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps War, World War II, Korean War Veterans, Vietnam Veterans and Military Women’s memorials in the Washington, D.C., area, Lamanna said. They also visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

Schwartz said the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall stood out from the trip because he lost friends in the war. He said the wall made him think about the important things he and other soldiers did for their country.

“If they were to call me up because they needed me again, I’d be gone,” Schwartz said. “Even my wife knows that.”

Lamanna said Honor Flight has been hosting trips in the spring and fall since 2013. He said the goal is to take 100 veterans per trip.

“Guardians,” or people who pay their own way to assist veterans on the trip, Honor Flight board members, medical staff, photographers, a chaplain and a trauma therapist accompany the veterans.

Lamanna said there are 300 Vietnam veterans on Honor Flight’s waiting lists. He said the organization relies on private donations. People can donate to support the trips at inwhonorflight.org.

O’Halloran commended Honor Flight on an “incredible job,” and said every veteran should go on the flight.