A group of 25 Iron County veterans of World War II and the Korean War, along with guardians and other supporters, departed Cedar City airport early Thursday morning, bound for the nation’s Capitol. A similar group from Washington County will join the Iron County group at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas for a dedicated, all-Southern Utah honor flight—the first of its kind.
Gerald Stoker from Cedar City, a veteran of the Korean War, is among the group.
"I'm really overwhelmed, mostly because I'm with all of these others guys, World War II vets," Stoker said.
The group will spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning visiting memorials and other sites. Cedar city plans to welcome the vets back in style on Saturday night. Organizer and Vietnam veteran, Dennis Robison.
"Highway Patrol's going to pick the bus up south of town and escort it to town with its lights on," organizer and Vietnam veteran Dennis Robison said. "Once it gets into town the police will pick up the escort. There will be a helicopter from the helicopter school with his landing light on following the bus down the road here, and the fire department's going to be here...shooting water over the bus as they come down Kittyhawk and hopefully we'll have enough people to give them American flags to stand out here."
The Saturday night reception begins at 8:30 pm at the Leavitt group hanger at the head of Kittyhawk drive. The bus is expected just after 10 pm.