Vietnam vets depart on two-week Honor Flight

Veterans are returning to Vietnam for a one-of-a-kind Old Glory Honor Flight trip, their journey started Sunday morning in Menasha.

“For the Vietnam Veterans, this is their welcome home, this is our thank you to them,” said Dawn Putzke, whose dad is on the trip.

She was one of the many family, friends, and fellow veterans giving a proper farewell to the veterans as they got on the bus to head to the airport.

“It means the world to us, I can't even summarize how much it means to our family to have our father get selected to go on this trip,” said Putzke.

She says her family's ties to the military is why she also decided to serve her country.

“With our father being a veteran, my grandfathers being veterans, my uncle being a veteran, it was a positive choice to go in and serve our country and follow in their footsteps,” said Putzke.

Terry Therrien served in the First Calvary division in Vietnam. While on this trip, he hopes to honor other veterans who never made it home.

“One of the things that I really want to do is get up in the central highlands where I was stationed there, and say a prayer for the all mighty people who made the ultimate sacrifice and thank them for that,” said Therrien.

The veterans will be in Vietnam for the next two weeks sightseeing; followed by a proper welcome home celebration when they return.

“It's important to put the thank you out there for those who served; not myself, but for my family for the people who have gone before us, the generations, for what they've gone through,” said Putzke.