William Powers, a Vietnam veteran from Junction City, bestows a Marine Corps Globe and Anchor upon his student-guardian Avrie Wilson at Thursday’s Wamego Honor Flight Homecoming.
William Powers, a Vietnam veteran from Junction City, bestows a Marine Corps Globe and Anchor upon his student-guardian Avrie Wilson at Thursday’s Wamego Honor Flight Homecoming.
Families, friends and well-wishers joined in Thursday to welcome home 25 area veterans and their student-guardians, as the 9th Kansas Honor Flight – Wamego High School returned from Washington D.C.
The Honor Flight network began in 2005 with a mission of supporting the nation’s veterans by taking them to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials and monuments dedicated to their service and sacrifice. There are hubs around the country to support the Flights.
Wamego’s Flight is a project of the WHS National Honor Society and funded in part by various area businesses and individuals. It is unique in that all the veterans’ guardians are NHS students who must qualify for their position by writing a judged essay.
“Families, parents, you should all be so proud of the two days of work these student-guardians put in,” said Shawn Horning, WHS NHS and trip leader. “The veterans never lifted a finger. They took care of them throughout. They do a fine job and it’s a reflection of the community where they grew up.”
The Wamego Flight is also unique in the Homecoming it puts on for the returning veterans, to help make up, in part, for the homecoming many never received after their service.
A traditional part of Homecoming for the Wamego veterans is the pedal plane crafted by Cliff Baughman and Eric Artzer.
“We have our new pedal plane, it’s the Dauntless,” Hornung said. “The veterans will sign the seat pan and sometime after, students, you will sign the wings to show the work you’ve done in lifting them up.”
This year, unlike previous years, Quilts of Valor provided quilts for each veteran. As each veteran was introduced by his or her guardian, they were “quilted” by volunteers from the organization.
The veterans agreed the overnight trip, which included the World War II, Korean War, Lincoln, Vietnam War, Navy, Iwo Jima and Dwight D. Eisenhower memorials, along with the National Archives and Arlington National Cemetery, was a special experience which would last a lifetime.
“I’m not from this community, but I feel like I’m part of it now,” said William Powers, a Vietnam Veteran from Junction City. “(Partially because) of a lot of guys on this trip, but especially these kids. I’m absolutely floored by their dedication, selflessness, good humor and maturity. It’s just something to behold as a group.”
Powers noted those he served with in the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines were all volunteers.
“They chose to be in the Marine Corps, as difficult a time as that was, and coming home to the United States under the circumstances we came back to – this has cleared all that fog away, and that pain, and for that, I thank you personally,” he said.
He returned to the guardians and called his guardian, Private Avrie Wilson, to the front. In his hand, Powers held a Globe and Anchor.
“In the Marine Corps,” he explained, “when awarded the Globe and Anchor, the saying is, ‘It’s never given, it’s always earned.’ And you earned it,” he told Wilson. “I can tell you that. I can say this young lady has earned the privilege to be in possession. It was earned, not given. And I want to thank you for that.”
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