Retired Marine Corps Lt. Col Charles Zangas was among 95 veterans to go on weekend trip to Washington, D.C. in honor of his service. Honor Flight San Diego is a non-profit team of volunteers dedicated to escorting veterans to Washington D.C. to visit and reflect at the Memorials dedicated to their service and sacrifice.
Zangas, 90, and 94 other Vietnam veterans were greeted in Baltimore on Friday November, 4th, with cheers from hundreds of well-wishers. Among them were 14 of his family members. He was met by another joyful welcome in San Diego on Sunday afternoon, not only by his wife, Anne, but total strangers as well who came up to hug each veteran and present gifts to show their appreciation.
It appears Chuck would never had considered going on such a trip but his wife Anne, thought he deserved to go and submitted an application without telling him. The Honor Flight team(s) assign a guardian (a volunteer that helps them), and Zangas was given the white glove treatment. Among the visits were the Arlington National Cemetery, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, World War II, Korea, Lincoln and Vietnam Memorials and the U.S. Navy Yard Museum. He was able to be present during the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns which he felt was really moving.
As noted by the RB news, …his joy over the Honor Flight weekend experiences was a sharp contrast to how he felt coming back from Vietnam in the summer of 1968….a time when many Americans were not greeted warmly.
Zangas has a military career that spanned over 25 years and afterwards he continued flying for Northrop-Grumman (then Grumman Aerospace Corp) where he travelled and lived all over the world, including Iran and Italy, and which eventually brought him to San Diego in 1986 where he settled in Rancho Bernardo.
We are thrilled to see Chuck honored in such a way. The Zangas’ have been with HoyleCohen for over 25 years and Rachel Luken has had the privilege to call them friends and work alongside them for the past two decades!
