East Texas veterans return home after emotional Brookshire Heroes Flight

TYLER, Texas — Veterans are back home following the Brookshire Heroes Flight.

After three days in Washington D.C., the group of East Texas veterans were welcomed back home with cheers, hugs and signs at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport. The group represented a wide range of service eras, from World War II and the Korean War to Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The group visited several landmarks and war memorials while they were in Washington D.C. Billy Phillips, a 95-year-old Korean War Veteran, said it was an emotional, once-in-a-lifetime trip.

"It was something else. Everybody was good. And I read the letters that people wrote— I had to have some Kleenex," Phillips said tearfully.

The Brookshire Grocery Company provides these trips at no cost to veterans.