Bio: Thoma, Rick - Honor
Flight Experience (Oct 2019)
Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail:
dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
----Surnames: Thoma, Reagan
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark, Co) 11/13/2019
Neillsville Veteran Shares Honor Flight Experience (Thoma – 21 October 2019)
After patiently waiting for two-and-one-half years, Rick Thoma finally got
to go on a flight of a lifetime.
He enjoyed the entire trip but was most impacted not by the memorials he
saw, but by the reception he got when he came back home.
“I’d never seen this kind of welcome in 48 years,” he said.
Thoma is a Vietnam veteran and Neillsville resident. Thoma was part of the
Army’s 101st Airborne. He served in Vietnam from Dec. 5, 1969 through Feb.
9, 1971. He worked in the battalion unit and ordered ammunition for the
105-millimeter howitzers.
Over two years ago, Thoma applied to go on the never Forgotten Honor Flight,
which takes veterans from 13 counties in northern Wisconsin to see the
memorials built in their honor in Washington D.C. On June 10, he received a
call that he was picked to go on Honor Flight No. 38 on Oct. 21.
Thoma said he was grateful to the Neillsville Gun Club. The club raised
$5,000 in an April fundraiser, which was enough to send 10 veterans to D.C.
“They should be very proud that they raised that much in one day,” Thoma
said in a written record of his experience. “[The Honor Flight staff] tell
us that the cost of these flights is about $85,000 each, but it is no cost
to the veterans.”
Everything began the day before the veterans took off on their flight.
Veterans stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Wausau free of charge.
Rick, Bonnie and Dallas Thoma pause for a photo at the veterans’ recognition
banquet at the Hilton Garden Inn in Wausau. (all submitted photos)
Each veteran had a guardian to report to that they could ask for help
throughout the trip if needed. Most guardians were assigned to veterans.
Thoma’s guardian was his son, Dallas.
I was proud to have him with me. His birthday is on Veterans Day,” said
Thoma.
The guardians had a two-hour class the Sunday before the flight. During that
time, the veterans watched the Packer game in the hotel bar at the Hilton.
We were given yellow shirts and jackets, with green lettering. The guardians
were given green shirts with yellow lettering. So, we all had Packer
colors,” Thoma wrote.
At 4:20 p.m. the veterans, their spouses and guardians enjoyed a banquet and
program. The Wausau American Legion presented the colors. Songs were sung
for all branches of the military. The Center Stage Singers and Trillium
Singers performed tunes from the 1960s. After dinner, the Wausau American
Legion played “Taps” and retired the colors. The veterans then could go out
in the hall and have their pictures taken with the Trillium Singers, as they
were dressed in Army, Navy and Air Force Uniforms.
Monday morning, the veterans got up bright and early at 4 a.m. and rode
buses from the hotel to the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee. From 5 to
5:30 a.m., the veterans and guardians checked in and the spouses were
ushered upstairs to watch the plane leave.
At 6 a.m., everyone boarded the aircraft, the 52 veterans in wheelchairs
boarded first.
“Our flight included four Korean veterans, 107 Vietnam veterans, four
medics, two doctors, 52 guardians and the Honor Flight staff,” Thoma wrote.
The veterans’ Sun Country flight departed at 6:45 a.m.
At 9:45 a.m. the veterans touched down at Reagan National Airport in
Arlington, Virginia. They were greeted to a warm welcome as they walked into
the terminal.
“All the people were lined up along the walls behind yellow ribbons waiting
to thank us. They all waited for us to pass through,” Thoma said in an
interview later. “It was hard to guess how many [people] there were, all
saying, ‘thank you for your service’ and ‘welcome home.’ It was just awesome
and overwhelming.”
The veterans departed the airport in motor coaches at 10:50 a.m. They had a
police escort wherever they went.
The veterans arrived at the Lincoln Memorial at 11:05 a.m., where a group
picture was taken on the memorial steps. Then they got to view the Vietnam
Wall and Korean Memorial.
At 1 p.m., the veterans boarded the buses and received box lunches donated
by Arby’s. They were given a bus tour of the capital, Navy Memorial and the
White House.
The veterans arrived at the World War II Memorial at 1:25 p.m. The memorial
has a pillar for every state and the water in the fountain is taken from the
Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
At 2:35 p.m., the Honor Flight group departed the World War II Memorial for
the FDR Memorial. While there, they saw a long line of motorcycles and
vehicles.
“We saw this motorcade go by and one vehicle had two American flags on it.
It came and did a U-turn right in front of us,” said Thoma. “We thought at
first it was for the president but found out later it was for Vice President
Pence.”
The group left the FDR Memorial at 3:25 p.m. By 4 p.m., they were at
Arlington National Cemetery to see the changing of the guard ceremony at the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They also witnessed high school students laying
a wreath at the tomb. Thoma said the ceremony was one of the most memorable
moments from the trip.
“That was very impressive to see the inspection of the guard coming on duty,
his uniform and weapon. We saw placing of a new wreath and were told there
is a year-and-a-half waiting list for family of high school students, to do
this,” Thoma wrote. “All of this is performed in complete silence-no cell
phones, no smoking and no gum chewing – out of respect for the dead. You
could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet.”
At 4:30 p.m., the Honor Flight attendees left the cemetery and went to the
Iwo Jima Memorial. There they saw the U.S. Marines Drill Team give a drill
demonstration.
The veterans left the memorial by 5:40 and drove by the Pentagon and the
9/11 Memorial. Their last stop was the Air Force Memorial. They again were
treated to a box dinner, compliments of Arby’s.
The veterans arrived at Reagan National Airport around 7:30 to check in and
load the plane. The flight left at 9 p.m., with the same pilots and staff as
when the group arrived.
“On our way home we were surprised by a ‘mail call.’ The mailbags were
postmarked 1968. I had more than 70 letters and cards. They were from
family, friends, companies, businesses and kids from schools – some people I
didn’t even know,” Thoma wrote.
Rick Thoma looks at a thank-you letter received on the Never Forgotten Honor
Flight.
The most emotional part of the day was yet to come though.
“I told my son, just wait until we hear the cheers when we get back to the
airport,” said Thoma.
“Again, a lot of the people from American Legions, VFW’s, high schools and
family and friends greeted us with a ‘Welcome home’ and ‘thanks for your
service,’” Thoma wrote.
“When I arrived back from Vietnam, I got here at night, so I didn’t
experience it, but I knew a lot of people who were swore at, spit at or
whatever when they returned from Vietnam,” said Thoma. “It was very
different, the welcome we got [now] compared to Vietnam.”
Thoma will not soon forget his Honor Flight experience. He mostly feels a
lot of gratitude for what he was able to do and see. He extended
appreciation to the Neillsville Gun Club for sending him, the people who
wrote letters or made cards for him, and his kids, wife, sister, cousin,
brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, son-in-law and relatives that were all
waiting at the airport when he got back.
“It was very emotional for me and I enjoyed it very much,” Thoma said of the
trip. “I would encourage anyone who served and is thinking of going on this
trip to go for it. It truly is the ‘trip of a lifetime.’”
Rick Thoma is greeted by a fellow veteran after arriving back to Mosinee
following the Honor Flight.
While on the Never Forgotten Honor Flight Oct. 21, Neillsville veteran Rick
Thoma was interviewed twice by TV station WSAW.
(Place photo of Rick being interviewed by TV station WSAW)
While on the never Forgotten Honor Flight Oct. 21, Neillsville veteran Rick
Thoma was interviewed twice by TV station WSAW.
