Manhattan Veteran Returns From Honor Flight

MANHATTAN, IL — Leo Barnes took a flight to Washington, D.C., Wednesday. Flights from Chicago to the nation's capitol are fairly routine, but this journey was exceptional.

Barnes joined 111 other veterans on that flight, which marked the 96th Honor Flight Chicago, and the first since 2019 when the program was suspended due to the pandemic.

There was appropriate pomp and circumstance around every corner that day, starting with the veterans' arrival at Chicago Midway International Airport, to the arrival at Washington Dulles International Airport, and at all the stops on the whirlwind tour of the capitol.

The veterans visited several national monuments, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which Barnes said was one of the personal highlights for him and a place he would like to go back to.

Current U.S. service members paid tribute to the veterans with honor guard presentations at several stops along the way.

The veterans returned to Chicago later that evening. And though the trip was brief, the memories will be lasting.

"It was real nice. Anything and everything they do for you. No questions asked," Barnes said. "... I really enjoyed the whole day. I really did."

Barnes served in the Army from 1965-67 as a radio repairman. He spent a year stationed in Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam.

Honor Flight Chicago is a nonprofit organization that provides veterans with all-expense paid trips to Washington, D.C., for "a day of honor, thanks and inspiration," according to its website.

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