Midwest Honor Flight: Vietnam Veteran remembers fallen comrade at the wall

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dakota News Now) - Dakota News Now continues to bring you stories from the 21st mission of the Midwest Honor Flight.

Aberdeen native Churck Gabriel volunteered to join the Navy and served as a hospital corpsman from 1966 to 1970. At the wall, Gabriel remembered a young man he befriended who never made it home.

"Bill Wirick was a very good friend of mine in Vietnam. He and a close friend of both of ours, Gary Krinion, we kind of hung out together. Bill didn't make it, but Gary and I did. It means a lot to see this," Gabriel said.

For many Vietnam veterans, the Honor Flight gave them a chance to talk about what they did. Sometimes, it was an opportunity that they didn't feel they had.

"It took me a long time to even talk about Vietnam. In fact, it wasn't until after my son was born in 1981 and he had gotten a little older, then I started telling stories about what had happened," Gabriel explained.

As veterans like Gabriel shared stories, some that had never been told, they enjoyed a reception that most Vietnam veterans never received.

To Gabriel, the Honor Flight experience meant everything.

"From the time we got off the plane and the people there, I get chills and choked up, but I mean, I never expected anything like that. Unbelievable. Accepted. Appreciated. All the things I didn't feel back then," Gabriel said.