Courtesy photo

Four Schoolcraft County veterans recently participated in the 21st mission of the Upper Peninsula Honor Flight to Washington DC. The unique coincidence is that all are Vietnam Era veterans from four different branches of the military. From left are: Paul Varoni, who served in the Navy; Jim Hooker, who served in the Marines; John Sundbeck, who served in the Air Force and Richard Johnson, who served in the Army. Each veteran was accompanied by a volunteer guardian escort — Paul by his son Caleb Varoni from Ford River; Jim by his niece Mary (Kleiman) Benson from Abrams, Wisconsin; John Sunbeck by an Escanaba High School student Isaac Carlson, who won an essay contest to participate; and Richard by Cheryl Ohman from Escanaba. The veteran thanked their guardian volunteers, the trip organizers, all the hundreds of people at the airport, and all who donated funds and their time in making this such a special trip for the 76 veterans and their guardians on the flight.