To the editor:

Dear Mr. Ron Newsum and board members:

I want to thank you for the awesome Honor Flight trip you and the sponsors provided us veterans on May 7, 2025. I had heard that this was an amazing trip but this day was beyond words. WOW!

Seeing all the memorials with fellow veterans made it even more meaningful. Realizing the great sacrifices men and women have made over the past 250 years, we know that our freedoms we enjoy today came with a very high price. Arlington National Cemetery’s Changing of the Guard was an incredible ceremony. It was heartwarming to see the area packed with people from all across this country standing there in total silence, in respect.

This day ran like a well-oiled machine. The details and planning your board put into this Honor Flight, from the moment we entered the Fort Dodge airport, greeted at 5 a.m. by many people, dog tags, goody bags, box lunches, tour guides, bus drivers, support staff, guardians, airplane snacks, cold water, welcome crowds at Washington Dulles International Airport thanking us for our service, including a father and two of his young boys playing string instruments, is beyond belief. The return flight to Fort Dodge was surprising also, for we had “PayDay”and “Mail Call.” About 10 minutes before landing, the playing of Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA” was icing on the cake, plus a fireman’s water salute. However, being greeted by over 200-plus people at 11 p.m. on the tarmac was over the top.

For me it’s been 55 years since I was discharged from the Army, and over those years I have never ever been thanked for my service as many, many, many times as I received those words in less than 20 hours of one day, from people of all walks of life including 8 to 90 year olds that I will probably never ever meet again.

I spent 18 months overseas serving this great country in an enjoyable deployment in Germany. I always felt that those who served in combat zones were the ones that really deserved this Honor Flight. I am grateful for my wife and family pushing me to participate in this wonderful event. Like my wife said, “You had no idea where you would end up when you enlisted.” It wasn’t until I was attending the Honor Flight dinner that I discovered I was considered a Vietnam veteran as I served during that era.

I want to thank you and your group of volunteers for all the work and effort you put in to make this a most wonderful and memorable event.

Robert Ansorge

Storm Lake