{"id":2802,"date":"2025-11-14T18:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/?p=2802"},"modified":"2025-11-14T18:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:04:07","slug":"former-president-obama-surprises-veterans-on-flight-to-dc-with-special-veterans-day-salute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/former-president-obama-surprises-veterans-on-flight-to-dc-with-special-veterans-day-salute\/","title":{"rendered":"Former President Obama surprises veterans on flight to DC with special Veterans Day salute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tuesday, November 11, was Veterans Day\u2014a day to honor the brave men and women who\u2019ve served. For a group of Korean and Vietnam War veterans, the occasion became unforgettable thanks to a surprise they never expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans traveling to Washington, DC through the\u00a0<strong>Honor Flight Network<\/strong>, a non-profit that flies heroes to visit monuments and memorials, touched down from Madison, Wisconsin\u2014only to be greeted by former President\u00a0<strong>Barack Obama<\/strong>\u00a0himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the veterans disembarked, Obama appeared onboard the plane and addressed them over the intercom. His message was simple, heartfelt, and unforgettable:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHello, everybody. As we approach Veterans Day, I wanted to stop by and just say thank you for your extraordinary service. To you, your family, the sacrifices that all of you made to protect our country is something that will always be honored, and we are very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The veterans\u2019 reactions were priceless. Smiles, applause, and heartfelt cheers filled the cabin. Many were clearly moved by the former president\u2019s personal recognition of their service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Continue reading on next page\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--nextpage-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Honor Flight Network<\/strong>&nbsp;has spent the past 20 years giving veterans nationwide the opportunity to see Washington, DC\u2019s monuments and memorials. Participation is free for veterans, funded entirely through donations, giving them a chance to reflect, remember fallen comrades, and connect with fellow heroes. Over&nbsp;<strong>300,000 veterans<\/strong>&nbsp;have flown with the program since its inception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Obama later shared his experience on&nbsp;<strong>Medium<\/strong>, calling it \u201can honor\u201d to greet the heroes. He also handed out Presidential Challenge Coins, a memento he has distributed during and after his presidency to thank those who have served the nation or their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo all those who bravely served our country, thank you to you and your family for your extraordinary service. The sacrifices that all of you have made to protect our country will be honored, today and every day,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This surprise reminds us that simple gestures of recognition and gratitude can leave a lasting impact. Veterans who have given so much for their country deserve moments like these\u2014full of respect, appreciation, and honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo all those who bravely served our country, thank you to you and your family for your extraordinary service. The sacrifices that all of you have made to protect our country will be honored, today and every day,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This surprise reminds us that simple gestures of recognition and gratitude can leave a lasting impact. Veterans who have given so much for their country deserve moments like these\u2014full of respect, appreciation, and honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ahead of Veterans Day, I was honored to welcome a flight of veterans and their families as they arrived in DC.<br><br>To all those who bravely served our country, thank you to you and your family for your extraordinary service. The sacrifices that all of you have made to protect our\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bXF7DIN7ow\">pic.twitter.com\/bXF7DIN7ow<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BarackObama\/status\/1988230502197649568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 11, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Show Your Support:<\/strong>\u00a0Share this story to honor our troops and veterans, and let them know their service will never be forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tuesday, November 11, was Veterans Day\u2014a day to honor the brave men and women who\u2019ve served. For a group of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2804,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802\/revisions\/2804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}