A former sheriff of Monroe County was recently treated to a trip to Washington D.C. – after a lengthy wait – as he joined the latest Greater St. Louis Honor Flight.

Many in Monroe County will no doubt be familiar with longtime sheriff Dan Kelley as he served in the position from 1992 to 2014.

Born near Tipton, Kelley attended Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School all through his early education, being one of the last classes to graduate from Ss. Peter & Paul High School.

Graduating in May 1966, Kelley became part of the United States Air Force on June 20, set to serve in the middle of the Vietnam War.

He recalled joining alongside a friend who had been looking at the draft, though they soon parted ways for their four years of active duty.

As Kelley described, his service took him all over the place.

He began in Lackland Air Force Base and soon moved to Amarillo Air Force Base, both in Texas.

His next stop was the Peterson field of the Air Force base in Colorado Springs, where he worked in expedite aircraft parts. This focus continued as he was then sent to Vietnam.

Kelley was somewhat neutral about his time overseas. He was naturally privy to the losses on America’s side, particularly as the Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive. Nevertheless, he also noted how he made Airman of the Month during his time there – rewarded with a visit to Hong Kong – and spoke fondly of a brief R&R trip to Sydney, Australia.

After his stint in Vietnam, Kelley returned to Texas at Randolph Air Force Base.

He recalled how he was sent to work on tires and wheels, working with shelves for a week before a colonel came in, having realized a mistake was made, and told him to return to his work with expedite aircraft parts.

He left the military as an E-4 sergeant, fulfilling his six-year commitment with the expected two inactive years and returning home to work as a mechanic and farmer.

An interest in law enforcement then had him working part-time with the sheriff’s department followed by some time spent with the Waterloo Police Department.

His lengthy career as sheriff followed.

Many Vietnam veterans look back on their return to the U.S. quite negatively given how poorly they were received.

Kelley said his reception wasn’t terrible, though he did recall witnessing another soldier on his flight home being insulted by a protester. That other soldier punched the protester in the face upon being called a “baby killer.”

“I didn’t experience that here,” Kelley said. “I mean, a lot of the people here were veterans of World War II, so this community supported us. We didn’t have any big parades or anything, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get home.”

Regardless of how he was welcomed home, Kelley joined a collection of other veterans last week as they traveled to D.C. as part of the Greater St. Louis Honor Flight program.

Kelley received a letter notifying him of the opportunity to participate earlier this year, believing it to be a scam at first until he checked things out with his daughter Megan and learned she had signed him up several years ago.

He had actually been on the program’s waiting list since 2018.

Kelley was tremendously positive about the Honor Flight program, which began with an early morning trip up to Springfield to board a plane and centered primarily around a sightseeing tour of the capital.

“There was no hiccups,” Kelley said. “Everything was on time. There was no sitting around and trying to figure out what was going on. We went from one thing to the next.”

As he recalled, the tour involved stops to the many war memorials around the capital, including those for the Vietnam and Korean wars and World War II.

Veterans also saw the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial depicting Iwo Jima as well as the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

The part of the visit that seems to have especially stuck with Kelley is witnessing the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

“It’s very striking. It’s very solemn,” Kelley said. “We were told to put our phones on airplane mode. There’s no noise during the ceremony. You make noise, and they’ll call you out on it.”

He further noted the way in which the soldiers guarding the tomb walk, their rifles always resting on the shoulder closest to the tomb and their upper bodies staying very still, not bobbing as they roll their feet with each step.

Kelley was also very positive about other aspects of the trip. At a preceding meet and greet, organizers asked him if he knew anyone who had died in the Vietnam War, and when he gave the name of 1967 Waterloo High School graduate Richard Daugherty, he was later gifted a bracelet engraved with his name.

During the trip, though he refused, Kelley appreciated the offer of a wheelchair as the day wore on and was generally pleased to see the care provided for the participating veterans.

“They had a doctor, a nurse, a PTSD counselor and all on the plane,” Kelley said. “Those people were all volunteers, and I was just kinda awe-struck by that. That’s just phenomenal.”

As with many Honor Flight participants, the return home was particularly impactful for Kelley.

The flight back featured a mail call, and Kelley was pleased to receive a tremendous amount of mail from family, friends and students both in the county and out of the state.

He came home to find three additional packages full of mail.

Upon actually returning to the airport, he and his fellow veterans were greeted by an enormous crowd, great fanfare and members of his family waiting to welcome him home.

“It was kind of overwhelming,” Kelley said. “It was like, oh my God, all these people came out for us. It’s something a lot of Vietnam vets say ‘We didn’t have that coming home.’ It was kind of a finalization of your return to do that.”

Megan, who was among the family members who greeted him at the airport, spoke positively about both the welcome home and the mail call.

“The coming home ceremony was, in my opinion, fantastic,” Megan said. “They had everybody from current and active military to inactive military. They had Boy Scout troops, they had the St. Louis County Police Department there, they had bagpipers. It was just amazing. It was very heartwarming.”

Kelley emphasized how positive the Honor Flight experience was for him, encouraging any veterans to participate if they have the chance.

“I think if anybody has the chance to go, they need to take it,” Kelley said. “And I also want to thank all the people who sent all the notes and letters, the teachers who gathered stuff from classrooms. That was quite impressive.”