TYLER, Texas — To say Navy veteran Robert Pierce enjoyed the Brookshire Grocery Company's Hero Flight to Washington D.C. would be an understatement.
"I'm 81, hell it was amazing. It's a blessing to me, I served my country, but my country served me also," Pierce said.
With more than 700 applicants, 24 veterans were selected to travel to the nation's capital, visiting memorials built to honor veterans like themselves.
The trip is all expenses paid to honor the veterans for their service and sacrifices. Since the first flight, more than 500 veterans have traveled with BGC to Washington D.C.
Veterans on the trip visit the World War II Memorial and tour the U.S. Capitol with Congressman Nathaniel Moran. Other stops on the schedule include Arlington National Cemetery, the Air and Space Museum and memorials honoring the U.S. Marines, Navy, Air Force, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., and Vietnam and Korean War veterans.
"We went to the Air Force Memorial. We went to the Martin Luther King Memorial, FDR Memorial, Lincoln Memorial," veteran Sherman Harper said.
Harper served in the Air Force for 30 years, from 1953 to 1983. Harper said one memorial they visited was particularly special to him.
"The Korean War really brought things back, and the Air Force with the new planes and old planes, that was really really heartwarming," Harper said.
Brookshire Grocery Co. spokesperson Morgan Jones said this was the 20th trip, and the first since the COVID-19 pandemic. Seeing veterans of different generations and branches come together, and seeing representations of their sacrifice and honor meant a lot to him.
"It’s the appreciation that we try to show to these veterans, that Brookshire Grocery Co. tries to show to these veterans, and we know how important that is," Jones said.
Pierce added his dad always said to him that Americans live in a safe country because veterans fought for it.
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