Kauaʻi veterans returned home Saturday after a trip to Washington, D.C., where they visited military memorials, explored national museums, and received tributes recognizing their service during the Vietnam era.
Paula Schultz from Līhuʻe, Charlene Dorsey, and married couple Patricia and Roland Pablo from Kalaheo arrived on Kauaʻi after stopping in Honolulu, where they attended a reception celebrating the group’s return to Hawaiʻi.
The trip marked the inaugural Hawaiʻi delegation for the Hawaiian Islands Honor Flight organization that arranges visits to the nation’s capital for veterans.
The group was joined by 20 other veterans from across Hawaiʻi.
For the veterans, the experience offered an opportunity to reconnect with fellow service members, reflect on their military careers and receive recognition that some said was especially meaningful.
Paula Schultz, an Army nurse who served 21 years on active duty and in the reserves during the Vietnam era. Although she had visited Washington before, she said this trip gave her a chance to see the capital’s memorials and museums again after many years.
“We really all were very pleased with all the museums,” Schultz said, recalling a visit to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
But one stop stood out above the others: the memorial honoring women who served in the armed forces.
“Oh my goodness, it’s really exciting,” she said.
Schultz described her years in the Army as an important part of her life, one that brought challenges as well as lasting friendships: “It’s all a journey. You get wonderful lifelong friends.”
The trip also offered the veterans a level of public recognition. At airports along the way, members of the group were escorted through terminals and acknowledged during their travels. In Honolulu, the returning delegation was welcomed at a reception attended by a crowd of supporters.
Dorsey, another Kauaʻi veteran, described a formal welcome in Washington that included about 30 military personnel, an honor guard, and a naval tradition known as side boys, in which service members line up to honor arriving dignitaries and distinguished guests.
The group then attended a reception on the seventh floor of the venue, where the veteran estimated at least 150 people had gathered.
The repeated gestures of appreciation made an impression on the travelers, particularly those who had not previously experienced such a welcome.
“It was particularly good for people that had come back and not had that kind of greeting,” Schultz said.
Beyond the ceremonies, the journey gave veterans from across Hawaiʻi an opportunity to strengthen relationships with one another. Although some participants already knew each other, the trip helped them build closer connections with veterans from other islands.
Schultz praised the organization and the people who coordinated the travel, accommodations, escorts and events that made the trip possible.
“The experience was about more than sightseeing,” Dorsey said.
It also gave the veterans a chance to recognize the service of those whose contributions may not always receive public attention.
Stephanie Sharpe, secretary for the Hawaiian Islands Honor Flight Board of Directors, told Kauaʻi Now that Saturday’s return marked the conclusion of a journey filled with historical landmarks, formal tributes and renewed camaraderie for the Kauaʻi veterans.
Also showing support for the veterans at the airport was Edward Kawamura Sr., who was welcomed home last year from D.C. with close friends Robert “Bobbie” Paik and Terry Daligdig after a similar trip to honor veterans.
“I wanted to come support my fellow veterans,” Kawamura Sr. said as he hugged and welcomed the team back to Kauaʻi.
