Honor Flight Continues Salute to Veterans in Washington D.C

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – The Minnesota North Dakota Honor Flight continues as veterans from the region celebrate their service in Washington D.C. 102 veterans loaded onto buses and visited several museums and memorials on Monday; first visiting the National Archives where there would be able to see historic documents and relics such as the Declaration of Independence.

Navy Veteran, Robert Leslie reflected on the trip thus far outside the Navy Memorial.

“It’s awesome, seeing the World War 2, and the Iwo Jima and the archives and now the Navy.. It’s exciting. It’s exceeded my expectations.”

Leslie remembers his service fondly, taking pride in his service to his country.

“I would gladly do it again, I was in ‘65-69 during Vietnam and I’d gladly do it again, i have no regrets whatsoever going into the service// It’s fun and talk about some of our experiences in the service, year, it’s kind of neat, yeah, find out what other people did, yeah.”

Veterans from the Vietnam War, The Korean War, and even a veteran from World War 2 were chaperoned across the Nation’s Capital by dozens of honor flight volunteers. ND/MN Honor Flight Vice President Lori Ishaug says that organizing and coordinating this trip is her way of giving back to the veterans.

“For the love of the country, for the love of the veterans and really if the veterans didn’t do what they did we wouldn’t be here and this is our way of giving back and thanking them, plus the two sisters on either side of me are veterans so I grew up with, you know, the military family so for me personally it’s just my way of giving back,” said Ishaug who also volunteers with here sisters, Susan Schoeder and Diane Modrow.

The trip will conclude Tuesday with visits to the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean Memorial, and Fort McHenry before flying back to Hector International Airport in Fargo Tuesday afternoon.

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