WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — After being celebrated in airports, hotels, and forts during Friday's trip into Baltimore, Saturday brought reverence and a mix of emotions for the members of Honor Flight Maine.
109 veterans and volunteers witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. One vet described it as the most hallowed ground in the United States.
That was Saturday morning. The day got more emotional from there.
The group's buses went by the Capitol building, the White House, and the Lincoln Memorial before pulling over to let everyone out. From there, the vets and their designated volunteers, called "guardians," fanned out.
Some, like Verian Beebe, walked past the Lincoln Memorial, to a secluded part of the massive park. Beebe served in the Korean War. His war's memorial is striking, even jolting, to one who isn't expecting to come upon it through the light tree cover.
19 stainless steel statues are stopped in time, marching through a field in ponchos. American soldiers faced brutal cold during the conflict, and Beebe thought the memorial perfectly represented the conditions faced by those who saw combat.
"They sure did their duty and they had cold weather to deal with," he remarked. "They really went through hell on earth to fight that war."
On the other side of the Lincoln Memorial and its long reflecting pool, we caught up with Stanley Pelletier. We had met Pelletier at the Portland International Jetport before the flight. The Vietnam vet never wanted to see the wall memorial dedicated to those killed in the conflict; never wore his veteran hat; until his wife convinced him.
On Saturday, he stood in front of the wall and, even having served in the war, shook his head at the sheer number of names etched in its black stone.
Pelletier asked to be left alone for a moment to take it in for the first time. When he was ready to talk, he said it was the most difficult part of the three-day trip.
"It took me a while to get to it; I had goosebumps coming down," he said quietly, turning his gaze to the wall. "But, we’re here."
Pelletier had finally made it to his memorial. He couldn’t say if seeing the wall offered him healing. But Vietnam vets made up nearly all of this Honor Flight. Being on this trip, with them, had given Pelletier a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
He smiled at that, and again many more times that night, in the company of his new friends.