The next one takes place in September<\/a>.<\/p>\nAt Sunday\u2019s ceremony, some veterans used wheelchairs and walkers, and many wore red, white and blue clothing to mark the day. Some donned commemorative military baseball caps and pins.<\/p>\n
Navy veteran and Command Master Chief Wayne Thompson, 76, went on a recent honor flight and said the experience was \u201cthe most wonderful thing ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was meaningful to him, he said, because the trip made him feel appreciated and lauded in a way he had not felt when the Vietnam War ended.<\/p>\n
Vietnam veterans were sent to the war and went to serve the country, but still faced disapproval from some of the U.S. public when they returned home, he said. He ended up remaining in the military well after that war ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018I\u2019m more liked over there than I am over here,\u201d he recalled. He continued to serve in places as far as Antarctica, and closer to home, in Nevada.<\/p>\n
The honor flight \u201cmade you feel welcomed. And you got the homecoming you never got in Vietnam. And it wasn\u2019t the people that were the problem. It was what was going on in the States at the time,\u201d he said, alluding to anti-war sentiment that led to protests.<\/p>\n
Recognition, long overdue, also came to one of several women present Sunday who furthered the nation\u2019s wartime manufacturing efforts, taking on tasks that earned them the nickname of \u201cRosie the Riveters.\u201d Ena Reynolds Slaughter, 101, was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony during Sunday\u2019s event. Slaughter also served in the U.S. Coast Guard, during World War II.<\/p>\n
More than 5 million women ended up assisting in the wartime manufacturing campaign.<\/p>\n
![\"Ena](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sut-l-honor-flight-0809_006.jpg\")
Ena Reynolds Slaughter, who served in the Coast Guard and was a”Rosie the Riveter” waves to attendees at the the Spirit of 45 “A Celebration of the 81st Anniversary of the End of WWII” on Sunday at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker for The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Another veteran, who was both a \u201cRosie\u201d and a retired U.S. Marine sergeant, Randy Tidmore, 104, told The San Diego Union-Tribune about the work she did, assembling the wings of Martin B-26 Marauder bombers.<\/p>\n
She recalled challenges she faced as a woman in the military. One was being posted to a training base whose general told those in his command he did not want \u201cdogs or women on his base.\u201d<\/p>\n
The day the war ended, she and about 800 other women who were serving at the base were told to stay off San Diego\u2019s streets, to avoid possible harm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were going crazy,\u201d she said of the boisterous Navy sailors celebrating when the end of the war was announced by Truman.<\/p>\n
Tidmore said she doesn\u2019t think any special attention should be paid to people who contributed what she did.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think they should be giving us medals,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause everybody \u2014 everybody did something for the war. I say everybody, but there were a few that went to Canada. Conscientious objectors, we called them. But most everybody was collecting stuff for the war: grease, or tin foil, rubber bands. Everybody was doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with a moving tribute to the U.S. flag and a short film about the war\u2019s end, a highlight for the crowd appeared to be nostalgic music sung by a live trio, including \u201cMr. Sandman\u201d and an Andrews Sisters song<\/a> that included these bittersweet lyrics:<\/p>\n\u201cDon\u2019t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me. Till I come marching home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eighty-one years ago in early August, America\u2019s armed forces were fighting on the front lines of World War…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45959,2940,8,2164,173,33,2942,2943,2939],"class_list":["post-71489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-balboa-park","tag-california","tag-japan","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-nihon","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"WWII](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sut-l-honor-flight-0809_013.jpg\")
World War II Army veteran Andre Chappaz during a celebration of the 81st anniversary of the end of WWII at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park.<\/p>\n