Smithville Vietnam Vets Embark on Long-Awaited Honor Flight to DC

By Kristen Meriwether, Publisher

In the 1960s, a generation of young Americans left home bound for a war half a world away. When they returned, there were no parades or cheering crowds like the ones that greeted their fathers a generation before.

More than 50 years later, several of those war veterans now gather at the Dr. George M. Jones Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1309 in Smithville. Around its long tables, they’ve shared beers, laughter and memories only they can understand to build the friendships and a sense of brotherhood they weren’t afforded when they first came home.

And this Friday, six Vietnam War-era veterans from the post—Steve Peeper, Dennis Inman, Bennie Rooks, Rich Murray, Art Ambrose and James Windom—will travel together to Washington, D.C., as part of the Honor Flight Austin program, which takes veterans to visit the memorials built in their honor.

For these six men, the trip will be both a long-awaited recognition and a shared journey of remembrance.

“I think it's very special to go, especially with all my friends, and being honored for what we did. It's very important to me,” said Inman, 78, who served in Vietnam with the U.S. Army’s 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in 1967 and 1968. “I would not want to go with any other group than what we have. It's very special.”

Part of what makes the group so special is the humor, which was on full display during our interview on Monday. When we asked 90-year-old Ambrose, the only veteran representing the U.S. Air Force on the trip and a Distinguished Flying Cross recipient, how he felt about going, he replied in perfect deadpan, “Well, I was told by the VFW commander here, if I didn't go and keep an eye on these guys, that he was going to bar me from here anymore. So I signed my name down.”

The entire table (including this reporter) roared with laughter.

But behind that laughter hides an undercurrent of pain that still lingers—for friends who didn’t make it home, from living with haunting memories for half a century and for not getting the heroes’ welcome they deserved when they returned home.

“I think I suffer as much or more from the PTSD of how I was treated when I got back compared to what happened there,” said Windom, 75, who served in the U.S. Army’s 18th Engineer Brigade in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969.

He credited Post 1309 and its involvement with the community here in Smithville for helping him get through.

Even after five decades, the return home remains a complicated memory for many Vietnam veterans.

“I think it's an honor to travel with my fellow vets, and for us Vietnam guys, it's a little payback for stuff we went through and the disrespect we got when we got back,” said Murray, 76, who served in Vietnam in the U.S. Navy’s Mobile Construction Battalion 10 in 1970. “It's catching up time, and it'll be an honor to be with these guys.”

During the trip this weekend, the group will visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which lists the names of 58,318 Americans who gave their lives in service to their country during the Vietnam War.

For most of the Smithville veterans, this trip will mark the first time to visit the memorial, known simply as the Wall. But not for Rooks, 77, who served in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division in 1970 and 1971.

“It’s unbelievable. I looked for a couple of guys who got killed with me, and I found one of them,” Rooks said. “You just cry. That’s all there is to it. I’m just glad I made it back.”

Everyone at the table reflexively said “amen” to that.

Army veteran Peeper served in the 7th Surgical Hospital with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 29th Evacuation Hospital in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. At 75, he's eager to finally see the memorial.

“I can't wait to see the Vietnam wall,” Peeper said. “I think it's a privilege to go.”

The anticipation comes laced with memories of arrival in Vietnam, a terror that never fully fades.

“When I stepped off that plane, I thought I was gonna die,” Peeper recalled.

Rooks agreed, adding, “I thought I was going to die every day.”

But the relief of that plane lifting off and leaving Vietnam for the final time brought a different emotion.

“When that plane lifted off, everybody started clapping,” Rooks said.

While these six men didn’t serve together, that appreciation for surviving the war echoes in the bonds they’ve built over the years at the Smithville post. Windom called it the esprit de corps, something he first recognized during basic training as an 18-year-old and appreciated throughout his time in Vietnam.

“To come to a group [Smithville VFW] and be able to experience the esprit de corps again, that is touching,” Windom said.

Big thank you to Frontier Bank, The Stewart Law Firm and TCS Mechanical for sponsoring the flight for all six veterans going to D.C. this weekend!

Oct 24, 2:15pm UPDATED: The Honor Flight carrying Smithville's veterans took off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport this morning and you can watch the moving tribute the airport terminal paid to them on their way to the plane. And see some photos from the departure at the VFW this morning below.