Long-Belated Homecoming for World War II Veterans
WASHINGTON — For Lawrence M. Hinsley, it was a celebration almost 65 years in the making.
Mr. Hinsley, a Navy enlistee who served in the Pacific theater in World War II, says he was greeted with little pomp and circumstance when he returned home in late 1945.
“Maybe in New York,” said Mr. Hinsley, now 86, who is originally from Texas. “I went home and went to college.”
But on a trip on Saturday to the World War II Memorial in Washington with a group of fellow veterans, Mr. Hinsley got a sort of a hero’s welcome. His group was greeted with applause when they stepped off the airplane, then accepted the thanks of complete strangers while at the memorial.
“This is our coming-home party,” said Mr. Hinsley, who now lives in Tullahoma, Tenn.
Mr. Hinsley was one of an estimated 700 World War II veterans who came to Washington on Saturday through the help of the Honor Flight Network, a nonprofit that arranges free trips for the veterans to visit the memorial commemorating their service.
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