Mission #22, the Clifford & LaVonne Graese Foundation Mission of the Midwest Honor Flight, departed from the Sioux Falls Regional Airport on October 8th filled with 85 Veterans, their guardians and the Midwest Honor Flight staff. On board of the Mission #22 flight was Wagner’s own Dennis Clemens. Dennis was accompanied by his son, Shane, as his guardian.

The night before the flight, a banquet was held for all the Veterans and their guardians. Dennis and Shane’s day began at 3:00 a.m. the next morning when they had to be in the lobby of their hotel in order to catch the shuttle to the airport. Once all the Veterans had been checked into their flight, the airport waiting area was a sea of blue with Veterans waiting to board their flight. The two-and-a-half-hour direct flight to the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport had the Veterans departing the airplane into a crowd that had gathered to give the Veterans a warm welcome.

After getting onto the buses, they then took a bus tour of all the memorials, including the Air Force Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery (which included the changing of the guard), the Iwo Jima Memorial, Navy Memorial, World War II Memorial, the Korean Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. At each stop the Veterans were able to get out and explore the memorials for about a half an hour each, except for the Korean and Vietnam Memorials which were close in proximity to one another and participants were able to spend about an hour and a half there.

It was a great experience for Dennis. When asked if this was his first time to Washington D.C. to see the memorials, Dennis said that he had gone to Washington D.C. in 1982 for the wall dedication of the Vietnam Memorial along with fellow soldier, Dennis Fechner.

Although it was a great experience, it was as Dennis said, “hard on an old man”. It was a lot that was packed into one day, and even if it were a three-day trip, it would not have been enough time in Dennis’ opinion. He would have really liked to spend more time at the World War II memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. It was also a very special experience to share with Shane. It gave Dennis a chance to show Shane the names of the men he had served with who did not return home and share their stories and his memories of them. It is something that in the future he would like to also do with his daughter.

The best part of the whole experience was meeting and spending time with the staff and volunteers that gave up their time to accompany the Veterans and their guardians to ensure that they had the best experience. Both the staff and volunteers were very knowledgeable and anything they were asked; they knew the answer to.