Central and Southwest Virginia Honor Flight visits U.S. Army Museum

FORT BELVOIR, Va. ( WFXR ) – The Central and Southwest Virginia Honor Flight departed from the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford County on Friday, October 18 for a three-day trip that took 15 veterans to Washington, D.C. to see memorials, monuments, and museums dedicated to their service.

On Friday, after departing from Bedford with 13 veterans and their guardians, the group picked up two more veterans from the local V.F.W. in Charlottesville.

All the veterans on the trip served in Vietnam or Korea, and the first stop was the United States Army Museum in Fort Belvoir.

A group of students greeted the veterans at the museum’s entrance and thanked them for their service.

For many of the vets, particularly those who served in Vietnam, it was a special welcome.

“When we came home, we weren’t welcomed back,” said Andy Dooley, a Bedford County resident who served nearly a full year in Vietnam. “You had to get used to that and get that out of your mind.”

Once inside, the group was free to wander the museum and look at the exhibits, many of which stirred up memories.

“When we finally got to Vietnam and the first time we came under attack, I ran and jumped in the hole,” said Raymond Carrier, another Vietnam Veteran from Mount Sidney. “I’m in the hole scared to death trying to dig my way to China. Remember I said I wasn’t scared of anything? When you’re in a hole and being fired upon. That’s a different story.”

As he moved through the museum, Carrier recalled story after story with the prevailing theme of his immense gratitude for returning home to a life and a loving family.

“When I was in Vietnam, I lost two of my closest buddies,” he said. “56 years ago, when I came back from Vietnam, I came back to a wife who I’ve been married to for 58 years. I had two kids; I have four grandkids.”

“I go to the memorials to honor those two because those two fellas that I loved. They did not get the opportunity that I did. I came back alive, had a life, and I think about those two friends who died and didn’t get that opportunity. I cherish visiting memorials which are in salute to my comrades. That’s why I do it.”

With the stop at the Army Museum on the first of the weekend-long trip, several of the vets were still processing what made them decide to come on the Honor Flight.

“I’ve had an opportunity to come before and I couldn’t tell you why I wouldn’t,” said Dooley. “Just in my mind, I didn’t want to see it. For some unknown reason and I don’t know what it is, I decided this year and I told my wife, ‘I’m going.'”

He said that he was already pleased with that decision before the first day was over.

Later in the trip, Dooley was assisted at the Vietnam Wall in collecting the names of all 13 soldiers from Bedford who died in the war.

Dooley and the American Legion Board Canady Post 54 are currently fundraising for the creation of a Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Bedford.

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