CLINTON — As anyone who has taken the trip knows, it is not just another honor flight.  The ability to visit all the memorials you’ve read about or seen in pictures are much more moving in real life.  

And, then, there is the camaraderie of being there with your fellow veterans from all the various wars, conflicts and military actions.  As any returning veteran will tell you, this is something very special.  It can even be moving for the escorts, seeing the sites and the reactions of the veterans.  

On Tuesday, August 21, three more veterans from DeWitt County were on a Land of Lincoln Honor Flight.  The flight depart from Springfield’s Capitol Airport.

They were Ron Savage, Jr. and Bob Van Fossen, from Clinton, and Ron Barnett, from DeWitt.  The men were welcomed home by a sizable crowd of local residents, plus all the law enforcement, firemen and EMS personnel that were in the escort from Springfield and points in between.  

Onlookers said it was good to see support from the community for these veterans, since many received no welcome home when returning from duty.  They just went back to work or found  jobs and blended back into society.  Seldom do people hear about them but about those who didn’t make it home or who returned with physical or mental disabilities.