WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama surprised Honor Flight veterans who were traveling to DC from Wisconsin over the weekend to pay tribute to their military service.
Obama, 64, boarded the plane full of World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans on Saturday and thanked them for their sacrifices before shaking some of the visibly awestruck vets’ hands, a video he posted to his social media accounts on Veterans Day showed.
“Hello, everybody,” the 44th president began. “As we approach Veterans Day, I just wanted to stop by and say thank you for your extraordinary service.”
Some of the veterans onboard gasped, with one shouting, “What?” as the former president recognized them at Reagan National Airport, which is located just outside DC.
Obama then shook their hands as they disembarked from the past and gave each of them a presidential challenge coin.
“I was grateful to be able to greet veterans who served in Korea and Vietnam as they arrived in DC this weekend, and give them a personal token of my gratitude,” Obama later wrote on X.
Since former President Bill Clinton, US presidents have designed their own challenge coin to recognize contributions to the country.
Honor Flight, a nonprofit volunteer group that organizes free trips for veterans to see the DC memorials, arranged for the flight that Obama visited.
The group operates over 100 hubs across the country and has flown some 300,000 vets to DC since its inception, with its last planned flight to Reagan National Airport of 2025 taking place on Dec. 6 and coming from Austin, according to its website.
“The last time I got to see a president, it was Gerald Ford,” one veteran told Obama.
After the surprise welcome from Obama, the veterans were warmly received with cheers and praise as they walked through the airport.
Eventually, they were transported to the National Mall to see the memorials built in their honor.
“I had tears in my eyes,” Army veteran Joe Parr said of the trip. “I just couldn’t believe that there were that many people around who remembered us and were there to greet us. It was just unbelievable.”
Capt. Mary Quigley, a retired Navy veteran who volunteers for Honor Flight, explained that “We just try to treat them with dignity that some of them didn’t get when they came home from the war.”
She noted that not every veteran received a hero’s welcome after returning home from the battlefield, alluding to the Vietnam War.
“I’m real happy that now, with current troops, they come back from deployments and they get welcomed back really nicely — because that’s what should happen,” Navy veteran Nels Swenson said.
“So it’s being recreated in this flight. It makes me feel good.”
