(KRON) — In honor of Veterans Day, KRON4 Anchor and Navy veteran Ken Wayne took an honor flight with a group of Vietnam veterans, accompanying the men on a trip that would change their lives.

Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the San Francisco Bay Area was the epicenter of a cultural revolution in the 1960s. Unlike World War II, the unpopular conflict divided public opinion and many of the men who fought in it were not warmly welcomed upon returning home.

Now decades later, the men Ken accompanied were greeted with honor and ceremony on their journey, including a water truck salvo on the tarmac at Reagan National Airport and a round of applause from the people in the terminal as they deplaned. Ken accompanied the men as they visited memorials and sites around Washington, DC including the Army Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial.

Along the way, they shared stories, memories and experienced a new twist on an age-old military tradition; mail call.