CRANBERRY TWP — When Vietnam War veteran John Weinheimer Jr. joined Honor Flight Pittsburgh’s Saturday, May 6, trip to Washington, D.C., he said never could have guessed what awaited him on his return.

“This is absolutely overwhelming, over the top,” Weinheimer said. “I don’t know what to say — when we came through that door, we never expected anything like that.”

Weinheimer and 57 other veterans of the Vietnam and Korean wars set out on two buses early Saturday for an all-expense-paid trip to the capital.

“The whole idea was, and the mission statement says that we take veterans who served during World War II, Korea and Vietnam to Washington, D.C., to see the memorials that were built in honor of their service,” said Ron Schall, organizer and Honor Flight Pittsburgh board member.

While the veterans returned late that night, Schall and a team of volunteers got to work organizing a surprise welcome for them at Victory Family Church in the township.

“So, they left at 5 a.m. — right now, they’re whipped, they’re tired, they think they’re going to get off the bus and go to bed,” Schall said. “So a couple things will happen: as soon as they get off the turnpike, the Cranberry police will be waiting for them. They’ll have a police escort from there to the church.”

Additionally, he said, all of the digital signs along their route were programmed with the phrase “welcome home veterans,” and the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company’s engines were waiting to meet them in the church parking lot.

“So the police will bring them through the firetrucks, then as they make the turn there’ll be Patriot Guard Riders — these are the guys on motorcycles — they’ll be out there waiting for them in what’s called a flag line,” Schall said, “and the (riders) will be saluting them as they come by.”

Once inside the church, a bagpipe player and more than 100 well-wishers with signs and American flags were waiting to greet them.

The crowd cheered and thanked the 58 veterans as they filed down a red carpet into seats, flanked by the Patriot Guard Riders and their flags.

Seneca Valley High School’s Junior ROTC presented the colors and a volunteer performed the national anthem before a short speech by Schall.

“As President Calvin Coolidge once noted: ‘No person was ever honored for what he received; honor has been the reward for what he gave,’” Schall said. “Veterans . . . thank you for your service, thank you for your sacrifice, thank you for your example and thanks for allowing us to be a part of your day.”

While the reception at Victory Family Church was the “grand finale,” Weinheimer emphasized that their day in Washington, D.C., was another thing entirely.

“They had police motorcycles and cars that they just buzzed us from one place to the next place,” he said. “Every one was that just that much greater than the other.”

Of the sites they visited, Weinheimer said he was grateful to see some of the ones he had never been to before.

“I had never seen the Marine Corps monument down there,” he said. “I’ve seen it down on Parris Island, you know, because that’s where I went to boot camp at, but had never seen this one. I didn’t see the Korean War monument before, so there was a lot of things that I’d never seen.”

Weinheimer, who served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, said he had visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial just last year for its 40th anniversary.

“Obviously, I’ve seen the wall,” he said. “No matter how many times I go down to see my friend — my buddy who got killed beside me — it still carries weight.”

David Michael Anderson, Weinheimer’s friend and comrade, was a private first class in the Marine Corps when he died.

“We just called him Andy, and he got killed on Feb. 7, 1968,” Weinheimer said. “We started getting hit with mortars, and a mortar came in within 10 feet of me and him — killed him and just knocked me in the trench while my flak jacket caught the shrapnel.

“Definitely a God-act there.”

Navy veteran Bill Eberle, who also fought in the Vietnam War, said Saturday was his first time at the memorial.

“I had always hesitated about going to the Vietnam Memorial, you know,” Eberle said. “I always had a picture of a bunch of people standing around, you know, tears — I didn’t really want to do that — but it wasn’t what I expected.”

The experience and the welcome home, he said, was full of surprises.

“It was very humbling and, just, the welcome home was extremely nice,” Eberle said. “I mean, something long overdue, I guess.”

Weinheimer said that the welcome was in stark contrast to the way many Vietnam War veterans were welcomed back when they returned in the early 1970s.

“Believe me, it’s very much appreciated,” he said. “Every one of my brothers that I’ve been talking to tonight, they’re just blown away also.”

Weinheimer is also vice president of Vietnam Veterans, Inc., a local organization for the physical and cultural improvement of Vietnam veterans.

“I mean, we went to Vietnam, you know, and we did that honorably — not for glory,” he said. “Hey, my dad went to World War II, I had an uncle that went to Korea. You know, I’m a 19 year old boy, I enlisted in the Marine Corps. My buddy said, ‘You’re crazy.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not crazy, it’s my country. I’ve got to protect my country.’

“Right, wrong or indifferent, that’s the way it was.”

Honor Flight Pittsburgh was formed in 2016, Schall said, but the national organization has existed since 2005 by a retired U.S. Air Force Major.

“He went to work for the (Veterans Association) in Dayton, Ohio, and it was around the time when the World War II Memorial was opening, and he’s asking — he had a lot of World War Two veterans as patients — he said, ‘Are you guys going to go see it?’” Schall said.

While a majority of patients said they would, according to Schall, he noticed that none had actually gone.

“So, he was a pilot, and he got five or six of them and said, ‘Let me take you there,’” Schall explained. “And that’s how Honor Flight was born.”

The organization now operates 124 “hubs,” Schall said, with most of the locations flying veterans into the capital.

“They fly into D.C. for the day — or if it’s anywhere west of Chicago, it’s a two-day thing,” he said. “Here, we go by bus because it’s kind of right in between.”

Saturday’s “flight” was the 11th Honor Flight Pittsburgh trip, Schall said, and he got involved with the organization after attending the second trip as a veteran himself.

This year’s trip included eight Korean War veterans and 49 Vietnam War Veterans, with one serving in both wars.

Schall said this was the first year that no World War II veterans attended.

“We had one that was going to go, he’s 100 years old, but he wasn’t feeling well, so he decided not to,” Schall said. “We usually have four to six World War II veterans.”

All honored veterans attend free of charge, he said, with fundraising covering the roughly $10,000 cost for each bus.

“Our next mission is September 30,” Schall said. “Put that on your calendar if you want to volunteer, if you know veterans who should sign up to get them signed up.”

He encouraged veterans and volunteers to take advantage of the program and to donate if possible.

“The whole day is about a day of honor,” Schall said. “My goal is that at the end of the day, they know beyond any shadow of a doubt that we are a grateful nation for their service and sacrifice.”

Want to help?

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If you would like to volunteer, donate or nominate a veteran for the next Honor Flight Pittsburgh, visit honorflightpittsburgh.org.