Dozens of people gathered at the Boise Airport Thursday afternoon anxiously awaiting the arrival of two dozen WW2 veterans as they returned home from their 'honor flight' to Washington D.C.
"We spent the first day traveling there, spent the middle day seeing as many memorials as we could possibly see, and we spent the third day coming back home," explained veteran Tommy Farr.
For Farr, it was his first trip to see the capital of the nation that he fought so hard to protect, but the flight to Washington D.C. was far from his first. Farr served as a pilot in WW2.
"Some of the days we would fly the mission and we couldn't see what we were supposed to bomb, so we would come home, so those mission didn't count, but I got credit for 65 missions," said Farr.
But he wasn't the only WW2 pilot on the trip.
"Billy Brand and I were kind of partners on this trip. Billy Brand was from Ketchum and a pilot in the south pacific," said Farr.
The two have been friends for what Brand guessed was upwards of 50 years. for Brand it wasn't his first trip to Washington D.C. He was actually stationed there at one point, but it didn't take a lot of convincing to get him to go back.
"They asked me and you don't say no," said Brand.
While Farr said he would never forget seeing the Iwo Jima Marine Corp War Memorial, Brand said it was the people he got to experience the trip with that he will cherish forever, but even with all they sacrificed, the men couldn't help but to give all the credit to Honor Flight of Idaho director Lance Stephensen.
"So even after everything that you have done for our country you are still trying to give credit to someone else?" Reporter Lacey Darrow asked. "Well sure. I just went along for the ride," laughed Farr.
Over the past five years Honor Flight of Idaho has given more than 150 WW2 vets in the Gem State the trip of a lifetime, all at no cost to the veterans. If you would like to find out more or donate to the non-profit, click here.
