COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - This weekend, World War II veterans from the Palmetto State made the trip to Washington DC on the first Midlands Honor Flight to see the memorial honoring their sacrifices.
Some family members, like Solomon Bright's younger sister Mary Wilson, joined their loved ones in the nation's capital.
Mary calls her brother "a very, very proud man."
"I think this is one of the most wonderful experiences that he'll ever have," Mary said.
Things weren't always so wonderful for the Bright family. Back in the 1940's, when 18-year-old Solomon enlisted in the Navy, times were tough. The memorial brings back those memories.
"Money was short back then -- real short. I had to help feed the family," Solomon said.
Money was short and America was segregated, but Solomon still went to war for his country and he didn't think twice.
"That was something I had to do, I had to help and I was an available young man," Solomon said.
As a young black man on a naval ship in the South Pacific, Solomon says quarters were too tight for segregation.
"Everyone up on the USS Bowers, they were like my brothers," Solomon said.
That band of brothers surrounded Solomon on this trip and so do his blood brothers from back home in the Midlands.
"About 13 of the family members rented a van and drove up," Joseph Bright, Solomon's brother, said.
Joseph said he made the trip up to pay back his brother for what his military service did for the family.
"I always looked up to him because he lived in Columbia and we lived in Blythewood and every weekend he'd come home and he was my big brother. He would always give us money, so we'd always look forward to him," Joseph said.
The whole Bright family looked forward to the trip. It allowed them to watch their big brother relive his younger years as that big brother who went off to war.
"I'm just glad he lived long enough to see it," Joseph said.
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Reported by Ben Hoover
Posted by Jeremy Turnage
