Veterans from all over southern Colorado prepare for the 20th annual Honor Flight
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Veterans from all over Southern Colorado are getting ready to fly to Washington D.C. as part of the 20th anniversary of the national Honor Flight.
The organization takes veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam on a three day, all-expense paid trip to the nation's capital to allow them to remember the fallen and share their stories and experiences with other veterans.
This year's trip marls the 20th anniversary of Honor Flight nationally, and the 20th Honor Flight for southern Colorado. It's also their largest class in southern Colorado yet.
"(We're) taking 55 veterans. We have three World War II veterans, six Korean era veterans, and the rest are Vietnam veterans," said Cindy Long, president of the Honor Flight of Southern Colorado Board of Directors.
Alan Jacobsen is one of 55 veterans flying to D.C. on Thursday, May 8. Jacobsen served in the army from 1966 to 1968 – and on May 2, 1967, he was sent to Vietnam.
"I was a E-5 sergeant. I was a machine gunner for the last nine months I was in Vietnam," Jacobsen said.
A year ago, Jacobsen applied to go on the Honor Flight. He said visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial will be especially emotional because of something he's taking with him.
"This is a list of ten gentlemen that I carry in my pocket that I knew that were killed in Vietnam. One of the gentlemen on here one night was killed right beside me," Jacobsen said. "Another one was a classmate from high school, and another one was a gentleman from my hometown that was a couple years younger than me."
Jacobsen said he's looking forward to the trip and the healing experience it will be for him – and is excited to share this once-in-a-lifetime experience with his son.
"He knows some of the things that I have went through, and it'll be neat to just hang out with him for a weekend, you know? I'm sure we'll talk about other experiences that I've haven't mentioned," Jacobsen said.
The veterans are set to return at 6 p.m. on Saturday at the Colorado Springs Christian School. The public is invited to participate in the welcoming and are asked to arrive by 5:30 p.m. They also ask attendees to bring American flags and signs.
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