The final 2023 trip organized by Land of Lincoln Honor Flight took place last Tuesday, providing a local veteran the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C., and experience a hero’s flight home.

Ed Conley only recently began to call Waterloo home, falling in love with the community after moving from Wentzville, Mo., a year ago in order to be closer to his grandchildren.

He was, however, born and raised in St. Louis, graduating from Southwest High School in 1955 before going on to work in a machine shop.

Conley said he joined the reserves shortly after the Army began a six-month program, going to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas for basic training and then Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland for tech training.

He explained that he served in what’s known as the Korean War era, as he joined the military in December of 1955 – about the same time troops were headed home from the war.

Conley wound up doing a somewhat brief tour of service, spending his six months in the Army traveling to machine shops to perform technical work.

He compared the experience to a sort of apprenticeship. The opportunity, Conley said, allowed him to learn leadership skills as well as the sort of standardization that comes with military operation.

Returning home, Conley continued working with machines, ultimately retiring in 2000, though in his five decades of work he did plenty of training and was able to become general manager of what he described as a very successful shop.

Having lived as a retiree for sometime now, Conley’s trip to D.C. began several months ago when he first heard about the Honor Flight program from his doctor.

He later heard about the trips again when he was visiting Willie’s West End in Waterloo and one of the tavern’s employees, Stephanie Palazzolo, recommended he participate, though he was hesitant at first.

“I told her ‘I don’t think I deserve it,’ and she said, ‘That doesn’t matter.’” Conley said. “She asked me about a month later, and I said, ‘All right, let’s look into it.’”

Palazzalo, it turned out, had long been acquainted with the Honor Flight program, having volunteered as a guardian on four previous trips.

She explained that she started with the program in 2015 after attending a banquet for a veteran where she heard a chairperson for Land of Lincoln Honor Flight describe the impact serving as a guardian had had on her.

Palazzalo – who is originally from Springfield where the flights take off from – specifically recalled hearing the chairperson speak about how the veteran she traveled with was thanked by a small child only to remark that this was the first time he had ever been thanked for his service.

“I knew then that I wanted to help our veterans as much as I could, so I applied to be a guardian,” Palazzolo said. “There are some veterans who, they don’t have anybody to take them, so sometimes they just call us up.”

Conley and Palazzalo drove up to Springfield last Monday, where, Conley said, they got to go to a VFW hall and have an excellent chicken dinner.

Tuesday morning, the group – which consisted of 94 veterans including two World War II vets, 10 Korean War era vets and 82 Vietnam War era vets – had breakfast before departing for D.C. before 6 a.m.

Conley offered high praise for the fire truck water cannon salute that saw them off.

He also spoke highly about the general experience and atmosphere of the trip, noting how everyone involved was treated with great respect.

“They are for the veterans,” Conley said. “They didn’t care what my name was. I was a veteran. They treated me the same as they did a colonel or lieutenant colonel. On this trip, rank and position meant nothing.”

Upon arriving in D.C., the trip consisted primarily of touring various memorials as well as the National Air and Space Museum and Arlington National Cemetery where they got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Conley spoke with great passion about the memorials the group got to visit, particularly the Korean Memorial which features a collection of many life-size statues arranged to striking effect.

“The design and the architecture and the thought, who would have thought of coming up with an idea of this formation and then producing it to the extent that it was done,” Conley said. “Just remarkable.”

He further emphasized the meaning behind the memorials and how they’re meant to recognize and honor the veterans of every U.S. conflict.

While the memorials were quite impactful for Conley, like most every veteran who participates in an Honor Flight, the most emotion is felt on the return trip as “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” are played over the intercoms and a nostalgic mail call takes place.

Conley admitted he couldn’t help but shed a few tears after his name and rank were announced and he began to go through a bag of letters and notes.

“The first letter I opened up came from my sister, thanking me for serving and things like that, and tears – I’m spiting those tears out now – and then a friend of mine up in Wentzville,” Conley said.

The kind of emotion Conley felt is also experienced vicariously by all the family members and guardians in attendance, as Palazzalo attested.

“It’s one of the best experiences you can ever feel,” Palazzolo said. “There’s never been a time I’ve gone that I haven’t had tears in my eyes at the end of the day.”

Even more emotions were shown when the plane finally landed back in Springfield and the crowd of veterans were welcomed home to an even greater crowd spanning the length of the airport terminal.

Conley recalled the numerous Boy Scouts who were present among the crowd, and he was able to shake hands with many of them and the rest of those in attendance.

The experience, Conley said, was “overwhelming” to the point he needed to briefly sit after it all concluded in order to regain himself.

Palazzolo also spoke about the impact of that welcome home and the fundamental reason why she continues to volunteer as a guardian on the trips.

“Words can’t even describe the sea of people that you have, and for Ed, it meant everything that all these little kids were there and shaking his hand and saying ‘Thank you,’” Palazzolo said. “It’s a wonderful experience. I have so many people who say, ‘I can’t believe you pay this much money to do this,’ and for me the money’s priceless because thanking a veteran is priceless on these trips.”

Conley was incredibly passionate about the trip. While their were many aspects of the Honor Flight which stood out to him, he was also generally enthusiastic about the experience as a whole.

He voiced his thorough encouragement that any veteran participate if they can, particularly those veterans who didn’t get a tremendous welcome home like those returning from Vietnam.

Conley summarized the experience with utmost positivity, describing how it left him and every other veteran filled with pride for having served their country.

“It left me with more respect for veterans,” Conley said. “And I was not the only one who was in there, in that group, everybody said ‘I didn’t do anything.’ And they’re all feeling that way. I’m not a hero, but they sure made me feel like one.”

For more information on the Honor Flight program, visit landoflincolnhonorflight.org.