Harold Bacon, 75, remembers how he earned his Purple Heart in Da Nang, Vietnam in 1970.

“I lost a friend of mine that saved my life who was also a minesweeper like me,” Bacon said. “He hit the wrong wire and blew up. This part of his arm hit me in the face. That’s all they could find of him. No dog tags, no nothing. He was all blown up. It was terrible.”

The retired Marine, who now lives in Franklin County, Ohio, also remembers protesters greeting him when he came home.

“Rotten eggs, rotten tomatoes, rotten pears, cabbage, anything they could get ahold of, they threw it at us,” he said.

On Nov. 7 — just ahead of Veterans Day — Bacon and 88 other veterans from Ohio received a very different kind of welcome.

The veterans flew from Toledo, Ohio to Washington, D.C. with Flag City Honor Flight, the northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan chapter of the national Honor Flight network. As they arrived to the World War II Memorial, a line of supporters clapped and cheered.

“They didn’t get the welcome home when they came home. They do on our flight when they get back and it really means a lot to them,” said Steve Schult, Flag City Honor Flight president and flight director.

The group included one veteran of World War II, nine of the Korean War and 80 of the Vietnam War. They made visits to memorials to each of those wars in Washington, D.C. throughout the day.

Ohio Congressman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, has welcomed visitors on all four Honor Flights from the state this year.

“I always ask veterans, ‘Have you been to Washington before?’ And they say no,” Latta said. “And these veterans that are here, the memorials they’ve come to see are for them.”

Bacon, now retired from his career as a physical therapy assistant, had never been to the capital before. After having seen it, he said the day would help bring him closure, and that he would take home some lessons.

“Happiness. Gladness. Surprise,” Bacon said. “I’m going to show everybody pictures of what happened here in Washington, D.C., every bit of this.”