Poplar Bluff is invited to send off the 2022 Veterans Honor Tour at 7 a.m. Friday, Sep. 2, from First Baptist Church on North Westwood Boulevard. The 30 veterans on this year’s trip will also be escorted by local police, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, the Missouri National Guard and the Highway Patrol.
The Tour’s three-day trip to Washington D.C. takes veterans to memorials for the Civil War, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, as well as presidential memorials and Arlington National Cemetery. For some, it also gives them the homecoming they never received.
“It’s just totally unbelievable the emotions and stuff they go through. You go through the St. Louis airport or you go through the Ronald Reagan airport in Washington D.C. and people stand up, clap, and step out in the hallway, shake hands and everything else,” said director Jerry Sneathern. “And especially the Vietnam veterans who never got a welcome home, it means so much to them. It’s just unbelievable.”
Sneathern, a Vietnam veteran, personally experienced the feeling when he and fellow servicemen Roy Lee and Bardis Dismuke took the tour in 2018.
“It was unbelievable. Because you know, when we came home, we weren’t treated very good. Matter of fact, they told us to get out of uniform as soon as possible on our way home because people were very rude to us. And to go through airports and everywhere we went, you know, people stood, clapped, wanted to shake hands and so forth and so on,” he explained.
The next year he learned the program’s director was leaving due to health issues and decided to step in. His wife Kay joined him and is now the program coordinator.
“They were dropping it, so that’s when I decided to take it up cause we — myself and two other guys (Lee and Dismuke) — were the first three Vietnam veterans to go,” he said.
The attendees are 30 veterans from all branches of the armed forces as well as 20 guardians, who are usually spouses or volunteers, who help with mobility, medication and more.
“Now we’re full for the year, but we’re taking names for the next trip,” Sneathern explained. Applicants must be from the Southeast Missouri area and older veterans are prioritized for trips.
Donations of any amount are always welcome. Contributions and applications can be sent to Veterans Honor Tour, 2384 Wayne Ln., Poplar Bluff, MO 63901. More information is available by calling Sneathern at 573-718-9224 or visiting the Veterans Honor Tour Facebook page.