Veterans venture to Washington, D.C.

PIQUA, Ohio (WDTN) - 31 Miami Valley veterans gathered Friday morning in Piqua for the trip of a lifetime.

They gathered at the Miami Valley Centre Mall for a ceremony before setting off to Washington, D.C. for a weekend of activities.

Their trip is part of the Mission: Veterans to D.C. program. This is the groups eleventh and final trip to D.C.

The trip will include four veterans from WW II: Clarence "Buck" Walker (Army), Hal Heiner (Marine Corps), Don Williams (Army), and Bill Christie (Navy). The rest of the veterans attending this trip served during the Korean War and Vietnam War time periods.

Two father-son veteran pairs will travel together on trip 11. WWII veteran, Don Williams and his son Vietnam Veteran, Bob Williams and Keith Johnson, (National Guard Service Korean War era) and his son, Operation Desert Storm Veteran, Eric Johnson will make the trip together to honor their service to our country.

One veteran served in two different branches of service. Pete Brown served in the Navy during WWII and the Marine Corps during the Korean War time period. Chuck Kimmel retired from the Air Force having served in both the Korean and Vietnam War Time periods.