F E AT U R E
‘Time Will Heal Everybody’ Vietnam veteran feels appreciated after Honor Flight BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Sound of Freedom Executive Editor
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hen Lynn Erickson returned to the United States from Vietnam, he, like others, was not exactly welcomed. “It wasn’t really pleasant,” says Erickson, a PebbleCreek resident. “As a matter of fact, on my flight back from Minneapolis from Fort Lewis, Washington, there was a gentleman who wouldn’t sit with me. He told the lady I had to be moved. She moved him. She left me alone.” Recently, the 73-year-old Erickson joined fellow veterans for Honor Flight Arizona at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to travel to Washington, D.C. The flight included veterans from the Korean and Vietnam wars, across all branches of service. Additionally, four ROTC cadets from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott traveled as guardian escorts. “We started here in Phoenix,” he says. “We were at the bottom corner
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Sound of Freedom | JULY/AUGUST 2022
Lynn Erickson recently joined fellow veterans for Honor Flight Arizona at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. (Enrique Garcia/Contributor)
of baggage claim. When it was time to go, we walked up to our gate, and it was just amazing. Everybody stopped what they were doing, applauded, and thanked us for our service. It was really heartwarming. “We never expected it. We never realized how nice that would feel. As we walked through the hallway past security, everybody in the restaurants, the gates and the shops all applauded and said thank you.” Erickson said a couple men cried because it was so special. “Honor Flight Arizona is thrilled to continue flying into June of this year,” says Robert Krug, Honor Flight Arizona vice president. “We have a long waiting list of veterans after the COVID-19 pause, and it’s important to keep the flights going. Many veterans have told us it was the trip of a lifetime.” Honor Flight Arizona took its first flight of 11 World War II veterans in November 2009 and has now flown more than 2,400 World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans. Trips have also included more than 1,600 guardians assisting the veterans along the way. Honor Flight Arizona has a base of many active volunteers. Honor Flight Arizona is part of the nationwide Honor Flight Network. The nonprofits accept private donations and corporate support. This trip’s sponsor was Daughters of the American Revolution – Yavapai Chapter. The trip’s first stop was the U.S. Navy Museum, and from there they went to the Marine Corps War Memorial with Iwo Jima, the Vietnam Veterans, the Korean War and the World War II memorials. “When we got to the Iwo Jima Memorial (Marine Corps War Memorial), schoolkids wished us well and thanked us for our service,” he says.
