Although Roger Cashman of Wessington Springs didn’t consider himself much of a veteran, local woman Connie McLaughlin did — and made sure Cashman secured a spot on the most recent Midwest Honor flight to Washington D.C.
“I wasn’t in the war, I don’t think of myself as a veteran like the guys who crawled in the dirt and saw all the terrors of war,” Cashman explained. “I never went to Korea and I never saw a battlefield. I just went where the Navy told me.”
McLaughlin is quick to point out to him that he voluntarily signed up when no one else did, and although he wasn’t in battle, he did serve his country as an electronic technician seaman recruit and eventually a radarman in the Navy.
“All I remember asking him is if he had ever heard of the Midwest Honor Flight. He responded by saying, ‘no, I never got that award,’” McLaughlin recalled with a smile. “I explained that it isn’t an award, showed him the website and asked if would be interested. The next thing he said was, 'I don’t know anyone who would go with me.’ So I asked him if he would let me go with him. I’m glad he agreed.”
The Midwest Honor Flight is a mission with the goal of honoring and thanking veterans from South Dakota, Southwest Minnesota, Northwest Iowa, and Northeast Nebraska, by bringing them out to Washington D.C. at no cost to them. When in Washington D.C., they are able to tour all the National Monuments as well as the War Memorials. Their top priority is currently to send WWII and Korean War Veterans and slowly work towards the veterans of more current wars.
This particular flight was named “The Elsie Mission,” after high school freshman Elsie Van Beek. She started raising funds as an 8th grader with the goal of sending more veterans to D.C. by way of the Midwest Honor Flight, the program her family organizes and runs.
Last fall, Wessington Springs High School student Carissa Scheel presented a check in the amount of $9600 to Elsie Van Beek for the Midwest Honor Flight with the funds raised by Scheel’s FCCLA project covering the cost of sending over 11 veterans on this flight.
“It was quite a trip — I owe it all to Connie,” Cashman said. “Before she brought it up, I didn’t know anything about it at all.”
McLaughlin submitted the paperwork for Cashman last fall and he was selected for the flight that departed Sioux Falls May 31 following a banquet the night before at the Denny Sanford Premiere Center.
This trip shuttled 83 veterans, plus a guardian for every veteran and additional flight and ground crew to D.C..
“We saw all the veterans memorials in Virginia and in downtown D.C.. I enjoyed the Navy Memorial quite a bit. Then we went back to the Vietnamese and Korean War Memorial in a fairly large park right by the Jefferson Memorial and the pool,” Cashman recalled. “Connie pushed my wheelchair down all the little hills then back up the hills.”
“I knew from previous experience I had to get some momentum to get over the hills,” McLaughlin laughed, adding that this is her third time serving as an Honor Flight guardian. She had the privilege of taking her late father Clayton McLaughlin who served in the Korean War and last fall she was the guardian for a couple who both served in Vietnam.
For McLaughlin, witnessing the Changing of the Guard in Arlington at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was incredibly impactful.
“It’s not the things you see, it’s the reverence and respect — it’s the atmosphere and the feeling you get being there,” she shared, adding that bearing witness to the emotion of the veterans on the trip is also powerful. “Vietnam vets are especially impacted. It’s wonderful they can get some closure, respect and thanks for their service. When they got home from the war, they had to change out of their uniforms before they got off the bus to avoid people throwing eggs and tomatoes at them.”
Veterans on the trip were honored and celebrated throughout their tour and flights to and from D.C., but according to Cashman, nothing quite measured up to the fanfare veterans met when they returned to Sioux Falls that night.
“Connie was pushing me in the wheelchair and there were two rows of people waiting for us in the airport, including a bagpipe band, people cheering, waving flags, giving cards, taking pictures,” he reminisced.
If that weren’t enough of a welcome home, the next stop at the Denny Sanford Premiere Center was unfathomable to Cashman.
“They drive the busses with all the veterans and guardians into the arena,” McLaughlin explained. “Once we exited the bus and made our way to the front of the busses we discovered there were thousands of people in the bleachers.”
“I’m from Wessington Springs and we were down in Sioux Falls. How was anyone from Wessington Springs going to be down there? But there were. I was flabbergasted,” remembered Cashman. “I didn’t expect anybody to be there, I just thought we’d go to the hotel and go home. I still can’t fathom why there would be a bunch of people cheering for me.”