Redlands veteran reflects on Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C.
Redlands resident and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel says Honor Flight trip honored enlisted veterans who often returned home without recognition after the Korean and Vietnam wars.
By Nelda Stuck, Special to Community Forward Redlands News
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Hugh Pickett, 94, a 49-year resident of Redlands, wants the public to value and honor living military service members from the Korean and Vietnam War eras.
That was his era of Air Force service. Paying tribute to the enlisted troops who fought in those wars is what he valued most during his May 1-3 trip to Washington, D.C., with Honor Flight Southland.
Honor Flight, founded in Ohio 21 years ago, now has hubs in 43 states. The flights, carrying about 50 people each, bring an average of 22,500 aging veterans to Washington each year for a day visiting military memorials. Since 2005, 339,226 veterans have made the trip, with more than 37,700 service members on the waiting list.
Twenty-one years ago, the honored veterans represented World War II and traveled to Washington primarily to visit the then-new World War II Memorial on the National Mall. Today’s honorees also spend time at Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Marine Corps War Memorial honoring the Iwo Jima flag raising, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and statue groups, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt memorials, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
Pickett valued the weekend trip seeing nearly all the major military memorials in Washington, but especially the attention given to service members who often returned home from war unacknowledged or even insulted.
Only five of the 36 veterans on this tour were officers.
“As you know, the enlisted men are the heart and soul of the services, and do all the work,” Pickett said, adding that he felt he accepted the accolades on their behalf.
Sunday morning, buses transported the veterans to Baltimore/Washington International Airport, with a side trip to Fort McHenry, site of Francis Scott Key’s “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
At airports and memorial sites, volunteers lined up to greet and cheer the veterans. A full schedule of Honor Flight arrivals at major monuments is available on the organization’s website for volunteers wishing to greet participants. Those making the trip — many using wheelchairs — later receive videos documenting their three-day visit.
Honor Flight, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, raises donations to continue the trips for veterans. The organization includes a quote from Will Rogers on its website: “We can’t all be heroes. Some of us have stood on the curb and clapped as they walk by.”
Pickett’s group departed from Los Angeles International Airport at 6 a.m. Friday, May 1, and included veterans from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Corps. Three men were older than Pickett, including one veteran who was 104 years old. Volunteer guardians and wheelchairs were available for participants during the day’s extensive walking.
As an afterthought during an interview about the trip, Pickett said one of the most challenging parts was getting to LAX and navigating schedules on the Redlands Arrow Line and Metro system to reach Union Station, where he found the FlyAway bus to LAX on his own. He had never ridden Metro trains before. He traveled a day early and paid for a nearby hotel so he could arrive at the airport by 4 a.m.
Pickett, born near Yakima, Washington, in 1932, earned a bachelor’s degree in social science and pre-law from Washington State University in Pullman, where he was commissioned through Air Force ROTC.
During his 21-year military career, he piloted the J-4 Piper Cub, the T-6 Texan, the Lockheed T-33, the T-28, the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, the C-47 and the Lockheed C-130 Hercules troop carrier transport.
His 97th Troop Carrier Squadron Reserve unit was recalled by President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Pickett remained on active duty flying the C-130 troop carrier transport out of Sewart Air Force Base in Tennessee and Vietnam combat support missions from Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
From Lockbourne Air Force Base in Ohio, serving as a C-130 aircraft commander, he saw duty in France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, England, Norway, Panama, Peru, Argentina and Chile.
His flights also included Okinawa, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Europe. His Vietnam service included 800 combat-hour sorties in C-130 aircraft.
