GRAND RAPIDS — The Honor Flight Network has a mission to celebrate America's veterans by inviting them to share a day of honor at memorials throughout Washington, D.C.
Doug Heiken from Grand Rapids will be taking an Honor Flight on Saturday, May 31, alongside other veterans from the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Heiken, a recent guest on the KAXE Morning Show, joined the Army in 1968 and after considerable training, went to Vietnam as an engineer. He worked on building bridges and water towers. He continued his service as an Army engineer in Germany for a few years after Vietnam.
Heiken's daughter Emily signed him up to participate in the Honor Flight Network, along with his son Sam as his "guardian," as the organization calls the traveling companion of each veteran.
As it turned out, the company Emily works for — ALLETE, which owns Minnesota Power — is a Yellow Ribbon Company, which means they have a commitment to supporting veterans and active service members. When ALLETE found out Emily's dad was taking an Honor Flight, they wanted her to go, too. So, now Heiken gets to travel to Washington with two of his four children.
He explained that although he had a very supportive community, not all Vietnam veterans felt welcome when they returned to the United States.
"This will really be the first time since I got back where I'm going to be on a planeload of people where we all have something in common ... and I'm looking forward to that," Heiken said.
Heiken will be traveling with over 100 other veterans from both the Korean and Vietnam wars. They will have a jam-packed tour of Washington, with stops at Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial.
"I'm real happy to find out we're going to go to the Military Women's Memorial ... It's something we haven't heard much about," he said. " ... It's going to be a big day. I know that we're four buses of us, and I hear that we get the preferential treatment when we get there."
There are 130 Honor Flight chapters in 45 states. Heiken will be traveling with the Northland chapter.
If you know a veteran who should be honored, or if you would like to volunteer, visit honorflight.org.
Listen to our full conversation with Doug Heiken above.
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