Well over one hundred people gathered at the Kenai Municipal Airport throughout Saturday to honor a fallen soldier and later welcome back an Honor Flight from Washington D.C.
Local residents and veterans lined both sides of the runway exit to salute the remains of a 33-year-old active duty U.S. Army soldier who was last stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Hours later a large crowd gathered again to welcome home local veterans from various wars who were chosen to travel to Washington D.C. to visit their respective war memorials.
American Legion Post 20 Commander Gregory Fite says although troops returning from recent wars have gotten warm welcomes, veterans from some wars didn’t see the same support.
Cmdr. Fite: “Vietnam veterans didn’t get the welcome back like I got when I got back from Iraq, seemed like the whole community was out when I got back but Vietnam veterans even got spit on back then. So it’s a good thing we’re doing these things today to help honor our veterans.”
He said he was impressed by the community turnout. Members of the VFW, American Legion, and AMVETS collaborated to organize the event.
