• Article Photo. Eastern Iowa Honor Flight veterans pose for photo at WWII Memorial Tuesday afternoon.
    Eastern Iowa Honor Flight veterans pose for photo at WWII Memorial Tuesday afternoon.
  • Article Photo. Vets Arthur Rinderknecht of Atkins and Louis Kaiser, with guardian Gary Kaiser at WWII Memorial
    Vets Arthur Rinderknecht of Atkins and Louis Kaiser, with guardian Gary Kaiser at WWII Memorial

Nearly 100 eastern Iowa World War II veterans spent Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where they saw the World War II Memorial and other military landmarks in the Nation's Capital.

The Eastern Iowa Honor Flight arranged the trip, which is free to the veterans. There was a crowd of volunteers waiting to welcome the veterans at Dulles International Airport in D.C. An even larger crowd consisting of veterans groups, other organizations and families and friends of the veterans welcomed them home when the flight returned to C.R. Tuesday night.

Vinton veteran David Schirm was one of the WWII veterans to participate in the Honor Flight. Another veteran with Vinton connections, former POW Donald Springer of Cedar Rapids, was among the 99 veterans who flew on Tuesday.

Other Benton County veterans who were part of the trip included:

Francis Conway, Keystone

Irvin Junge, Keystone

Louis Kaiser, Van Horne

Paul Kelly, Van Horne

Melvin Krug, Atkins

Arthur Rinderknecht, Atkins

Robert Roese, Keystone

Clifford Thompson, Van Horne

Look for more stories and photos from the Honor Flight in the very near future on Vinton Today.