MOSINEE, WI (WSAU) — The second Never Forgotten Honor Flight of the spring is on all day Monday, taking area veterans to see the memorials built in their honor.
Veteran Jim Klapperich says he had been to these monuments before, but going with a group of other vets felt much more powerful.
Klapperich said, “Just to be greeted by people at the airport… to come home and have my 86-year-old mother drive 300 miles just to come and greet me, and other family members, just made the homecoming the kind of thing that I didn’t experience when I was actually in Vietnam.”
Jim took the flight in October of 2015 and now serves as a volunteer. He recommends that any former qualified armed forces member sign up to take the flight, even those who didn’t serve in a combat position.
“I couldn’t have done my job if we didn’t have engineers, cooks, clerks, if we didn’t have people in the States or in Europe doing their jobs. The support groups were essential to combat troops getting the job done.”
Klapperich served in the 101st Airborne gathering intelligence. Click above to watch our interview with him.
