Lawton veteran returns from Oklahoma Warriors Honor Flight to Washington

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) – A Lawton veteran returned home after visiting Washington, D.C., as part of the Oklahoma Warriors Honor Flight.

Dr. Don Sullivan, a Cold War and Vietnam veteran, was chosen for the honor flight and said the experience “turned out to be wonderful.”

Sullivan was stationed in the D.C. area years ago and had seen the memorials before, but this visit was different.

“It gives you the opportunity to see things, even if you’ve been there before, gives you the opportunity to see things in a different light,” Sullivan said.

One-day tour of memorials

During the one-day trip to Washington, Sullivan and 66 other veterans visited the major war memorials, key national monuments and attended the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery.

“The memorials are wonderful. They’re just awesome and to see all of them in one day, it truly is overwhelming,” Sullivan said.

For this April Oklahoma Warriors Honor Flight, his son accompanied him as his guardian.

“I didn’t particularly need a guardian, but I wanted him to have the experience,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan served with the Military Assistance Command in Vietnam.

“I served in what was called MAC-V, the military assistance command Vietnam. All of my team survived,” Sullivan said.

Emotional visit to the wall

Though he had seen the wall before, the impact was just as vast.

“I never failed to tear up,” Sullivan said. “Though I know not a name on there, you cannot go to the Vietnam memorial and not become emotional or even thinking of it, you know.”

There was one memorial he had not been to: the Military Women’s Memorial.

“If they want to be hugged, they have a hug from me because I know what they went through, and I was pleased to see that memorial, which does depict a nurse tending to a soldier,” Sullivan said.

The trip made him appreciate the support Oklahoma shows for its veterans.

“One thing that I really got out of this is how fortunate we are here as veterans to be living in Lawton, Oklahoma and to be in Oklahoma,” Sullivan said. “In Lawton, you walk through the park you see memorials.”

Welcome home

When he got off the flight after the day-long tour, he received the welcome home he and other Vietnam veterans deserved decades ago.

“Whooping and hollering and clapping and saying thank you thank you thank you. For some of us who came home from Vietnam to San Francisco or whatever, and literally were just ignored and denigrated, that was a terrific homecoming experience,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said he looks forward to seeing the Gulf War Memorial that is currently under construction in Washington.

The Oklahoma Warriors Honor Flight is every October and April. All veterans are eligible to apply. Selection priority is given to those who have served in previous conflicts and those who are terminally ill.