Military veteran reflects on recent Honor Flight

Published 6:47 pm Tuesday, November 21, 2023

A couple of weeks ago, a group of veterans received a hero’s welcome decades in the making. 

Milledgeville’s Lou Popp was among them. 

Popp, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1972 to 1976, was part of an Honor Flight that took middle Georgia veterans on a day-long trip to Washington, D.C. to visit memorials that acknowledge their service. His son Chris made the trip with him as a “guardian,” a volunteer the organization enlists to assist veterans as needed on the trip.

The Honor Flight organization chartered a plane for the group — all Vietnam-era veterans — and departed Macon around 5:30 a.m. Upon landing in Baltimore, they traveled by bus to the Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the U.S. Navy Museum. 

The Navy Museum was of special interest to Popp, who was homeported out of Charleston and stationed on a submarine in Scotland during his time in the service. One of the most impressive moments of the day, he said, was witnessing the changing of the guard at Arlington.

“That is a humbling experience, too, when you think about [that there are] over 58,000 names on that wall,” he said. 

“It was more touching than anything,” Chris added. “It was kind of overwhelming at the same time. You hear stories about it, and you’ve read the history books, but when you actually see the individual names on the wall and how many there were…”

While several veterans did “rubbings” of names of people they knew at the wall, Popp didn’t know anyone personally who was killed in Vietnam. As he watched, though, he began wondering if there was anyone with the same last name as his listed on the wall. He found a helicopter pilot whom he said likely trained at some point at Fort Benning, which is near where he grew up.

“So, my son and I went over and found it on the wall, and we went over and made a rubbing of his name which we were proud to have,” he said.

One of the most touching moments of the day for Popp came on the plane ride home. As the flight began, the group learned it was time for “mail call.”

“When you’re gone away from home, mail is the connection to the rest of the world,” he said. “I mean, that’s all there is. You love hearing from family.”

There was no mail on the submarine, of course, but Popp explained that he instead received unique telegrams of sorts that could be sent to the watercraft.

“And that was the real highlight of our day — to be able to get that. It was important because it kind of gave you a connection with home, what your family was doing and that kind of thing.”

So, imagine the surprise of Popp and others when bundles of mail were passed out to them as the plane began home.

“I opened mine up, and there were over 50 pieces of mail in there,” he said. 

He soon found out that the organization contacts the family of attending veterans to have them reach out to others about writing letters. Popp’s wife had contacted a number of family members, friends and church members. 

“You get all these cards, and they’re all thanking us for our service and welcoming us home.”

Popp spent the hour and a half flight home reading each one.

And, when the group did arrive home, they were greeted at the airport by a cheering crowd, including Patriot Guard Riders, who were waving American flags. 

“[There were] a little over 100 people shaking your hand as you’re coming off the plane out through the terminal there,” Popp said. “It was great. For these people to come out and do that, we appreciated it tremendously.”

For the veterans, it was a far cry from the kind of welcome they received years ago.

“During the [Vietnam] war, returning soldiers were not given a pat on the back or anything like that,” Popp said. “We were spit on. When I was in the Navy and you left the base, you made sure you changed into civilian clothes before you left. You didn’t want to be out around Charleston in a uniform because the military was not very highly thought of at that time, and you never knew what you were going to encounter. You might have some mother spitting on you, somebody throw coffee on you, some big bully that wants to start a fight with you every time you turn around, so you just didn’t wear your uniform. You tried to look as inconspicuous as possible.”

For Chris, seeing his father honored in such a way through the Honor Flight all these years later was one of the day’s highlights.

“Experiencing that part of it and being able to honor my dad was really cool,” he said. “Seeing people honor him and being a part of that, that was pretty awesome.”

While the hero’s welcome was long overdue, Popp said the attitude toward the military is much different today. In fact, he typically wears a “veteran” hat out and about, and he gets thanked quite regularly these days, often by small children. 

“And that’ll bring tears to your eyes,” he said. “It’s just a heartwarming thing to have happen… It’s very humbling.”