As the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight Wisconsin ramps up plans to send veterans to Washington, D.C., the organization is hoping in 2026 to send more Black veterans on a trip of a lifetime.
Stars and Stripes offer veterans a free one-day trip to Washington to visit memorials and monuments, including the World War II memorial and the Vietnam honor wall.
For one former Marine who served in Vietnam, the trip changed his life.
Al Flowers, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, signed up for the Marine Corps as an ambitious, somewhat naïve 17-year-old in 1968. He served in the Marine Corps from 1968 to 1971. When Flowers looks at photos from his time in the military, he hardly recognizes the young man staring back at him.
“This is me in Vietnam. I was in the Marine Corps, recon, special operations group,” Flowers told Fox 6 News in Milwaukee. “Our job was to gather intelligence and do threat assessments for the other units.”
Initially, Flowers worked as a radio operator, an extremely dangerous job with a short life span. He was tasked with traveling ahead of his unit in the field, collecting enemy intelligence, such as movements and unit size, then radioing the information, including fire strikes, back to his commanding officer.
As if being a radioman wasn’t risky enough, a few months later, Flowers was reassigned to combat duties.
“They assigned me to recon, and my heart dropped. I just knew my life was over,” said Flowers. “I wrote my sister and told her I didn’t want to kill anyone.”
Flowers survived Vietnam, but following the war, he returned home and found it difficult to function, haunted by the horrors of combat.
“I was the one on the radio, when I would tell them to fire and see the results of that, it began to harden me, seeing that carnage,” he said. “You play these tapes over and over in your head, corrupted tapes, and it’s hard to get through it.”
PTSD is higher for Black Soldiers
Eventually, Flowers was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which wasn’t officially recognized as a psychiatric condition by the American Psychiatric Association until 1980.
And the disorder is more prevalent in Black veterans. Based on findings from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Black veterans are 22 percent more likely to experience PTSD from deployments than white veterans (14 percent).
In Vietnam, Black troops accounted for around 11 percent of the number of deployed soldiers but consisted of 23 percent of troops in combat and 20 percent of casualties.
Besides being Black, Flowers believes his economic status played a role in the assignments he received in Vietnam.
“The military is like any other organization; it’s a microcosm of the larger society,” said Flowers. “I think there was an author who wrote one time, ‘The sons of poor men will always be foot soldiers,’ and I was a poor kid, so I ended up being a foot soldier.”
Trip Made Healing Possible
For Black Vietnam veterans, reliving those experiences can be traumatic, which is why many have been apprehensive about taking an honor flight to Washington. Karyn Roelke, vice president of public relations for the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight Wisconsin, said emotions can still be fresh.
“Even though it was 50 years ago, they buried that,” Roelke said. “I think some vets are worried about the feelings it may bring up.”
Since 2008, more than 11,000 veterans have taken the Honor Flight Wisconsin trips, but only about 5 percent have been African American.
“We want to make sure that every vet gets their time, every vet knows that they’re special, and they’re honored, and they’re remembered,” said Roelke. “Every vet needs their closure.”
Flowers, too, admitted to having some hesitancy about the trip, but, looking back, was happy he decided to take the leap.
He said the experience healed old wounds. At the Vietnam Wall, he took time to scan for the names of close friends he lost in war, more than five decades ago. Flowers was humbled by the warm welcome at the airport in Milwaukee, followed by a rousing return home. He opened mail on the flight, dozens of letters thanking him for his service. It allowed Flowers to reflect. He let his emotions pour out for the first time.
“I had to keep that stuff bottled in. I relaxed, and I finally cried for the Vietnam thing,” said Flowers. “I feel warm now just thinking about it, honestly.”
Since his memorable trip, Flowers has served as an unofficial ambassador for the honor flights, recruiting Black veterans to take the trip. It’ll be worth it, he said.
“Ever since I did that Honor Flight, I feel reborn,” Flowers said.
For Vietnam veterans, there is currently a six-month wait list to book an honor flight, unless a veteran has a medical urgency, and might not be able to wait six months. World War II and Korean War veterans receive priority placement, according to Stars and Strips Honor Flight Wisconsin.
