Veterans enjoy crowds’ acclaim as S.C. Honor Flight program ends | McClatchy Washington Bureau

They were greeted like rockstars, in spite of the rain, cheered on and greeted by people they didn't know, hugged by children they weren't related to.

Sixty-six aging South Carolina veterans of the nation's wars came to Washington on Wednesday to visit the memorials that honor them in what was expected to be the last Honor Flight from Columbia.

“We’ve been doing it so long, but we’re running out of veterans,” said Ron Saxon, the leader of Wednesday’s flight.

Easily identified by their bright blue “Honor Flight of South Carolina” jackets in a steady drizzle, tourists stopped to shake their hands and thank them for their service. Children on school trips ran up to hug them, thank them and take a selfie.

“Oh, I think it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done,” said 90-year old Eugene Moore of Lexington, S.C., who served in Germany during World War II. “I love it. I have been to veteran events before, but never like this.”

The nationwide Honor Flight program began in 2005, flying World War II veterans to the capital to see the World War II Memorial an on all-expenses-paid trip.

As the numbers of those veterans dwindled, and it became difficult to fill the flights, the trips began to include those who’d served in Korea and Vietnam. Wednesday’s flight was the 21^st and final one for the Honor Flight of South Carolina program, which has flown more than 2,000 veterans to the capital since 2008.

Only the Greenville-Spartanburg program remains open in South Carolina, Saxon said. The Honor Flight Lowcountry chapter closed down last year.

“It’s almost not a reality,” Saxon said of the end of a program that was begun by Columbia restaurateur Bill Dukes after he visited the memorial with his father, who’d served as an infantryman during World War II.

The day began with a patriotic send-off as the veterans boarded their flight at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. The group included 32 World War II veterans and 34 Korean War veterans. Most were from Aiken, Greenwood, Lexington and the Columbia and Myrtle Beach areas.

“In the airport, I never had a feeling like that in my life. That was super,” said George Patterson, from Aiken, S.C, who served in the Marine Corps during World War II. “The music playing, and the dancing and singing – I’m very impressed, I’m very happy.”

Robert Cessna, who works at a retirement community in Myrtle Beach, brought a group of 19 veterans from the area. As they left for Columbia, their bus stopped by Ocean Bay Elementary School.

“There was an entire class of third-graders there to greet them,” he said, showing photos on his phone of a crowd of children singing and holding signs hailing the veterans.

More fanfare greeted them in Washington. Paul Neeley, a World War II veteran from Denmark, S.C., said he’d have something to tell his friends when he returned.

“I had told them ‘I’m going to D.C. I have an important conference with Paul Ryan before he meets with Trump!’ ’’ he joked.

As the buses approached the memorials, which were partially obscured by fog, the mood on the bus became more solemn. Some veterans unfurled large photos of friends they’d served with who’d passed away.

“It’s an honor to be on the honor flight. That’s the best way I know to put it,” Neeley said.

At the World War II Memorial, they were greeted by posters, applause, and some of their state’s congressmen, who shook hands and listened to their stories.

“Each time that I have the opportunity to be here, it’s so moving, and inspiring,” Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who has served in Congress since 2000 and has met many of honor flight participants. “These are the people who made it possible for us to have the freedoms that we enjoy today.”

Korean War veteran Roy Wingard, from Lexington, S.C., stood apart from the crowd with his daughter and ran his hands down the stone walls with relief panels showing military scenes from World War II. He said he wished his brother Eugene, who passed away three years ago, could have been there.

“He served in World War II; this is his memorial,” he said.

The veterans and their companions had lunch on the buses, staying out of the rain. “It’s no South Carolina barbecue, but it will have to do!” yelled someone in the back of the bus to much laughter.

“I just feel overwhelmed by it all,” said Susan Briggs, the only female veteran on Wednesday’s honor flight. She’d made the trip from Pawley’s Island, S.C.

The 94-year-old was joined by her son, grandchildren and great-granddaughter. Her son, Chris, said the visit was special because his mother had met his father while serving in Europe during World War II.

“So without this, none of us would be here,” he said, gesturing to the granite columns commemorating World War II veterans from each state, circling a large fountain.

Sharing stories of the war, his mother had one particular favorite.

“Our officer had told us ‘Stay away from those New York boys!’ ” she said, but she didn’t listen. At the end of the war, she and the New Yorker who would become her husband stole a bottle of champagne from a waiter in Paris and celebrated.

“We drank it under the Eiffel Tower,” she said.

Saxon, who has been on 19 of the 21 honor flights of South Carolina, served in Vietnam and said he was glad that often forgotten Korea and Vietnam veterans were getting the special treatment usually reserved for the World War II counterparts.

“We didn’t get parades, we just got on a plane, went home, and that was it. They told you ‘Ah, welcome home’ and that was it,” he said.

He said one of his favorite memories of leading a South Carolina honor flight was talking to a World War II veteran who’d been bayoneted in the leg in France and taken prisoner by the Germans for nine months. During a rainy visit to the memorial, much like Wednesday, he had asked the veteran if he was feeling all right, sitting in his wheelchair in the drizzle.

“He squinted up at the sky, smiled and said, ‘I’ve lived through worse,’ ” Saxon said.