If you’ve been reading The Mount Airy News over the past week, you know three area men — Carroll Wagoner, Ed Reynolds, Otto Langhurst — were among the 201 World War II veterans who went on the Triad Flight of Honor to Washington, D.C.

The flight, the second so far this year, takes World War II veterans to visit the WW II Memorial there, as well as other significant memorials and other sites in the nation’s capitol. They were also greeted by area and state representatives in Washington.

The flights, sponsored by Rotary International, is a way to honor these men and women who, two generations ago, fought in a struggle that literary changed the course of human development around the world.

When I was a kid I thought of World War II as ancient history — it happened before my birth, so it was lumped in with World War I, the Civil War, even the Revolutionary War, as something long, long ago.

I loved reading about the war, and seeing it portrayed in those old John Wayne movies — mind you, I was seeing them in afternoon reruns because this was long after their initial releases. And I recall that old television show, The Waltons, building a number of story lines around the War since part of the show’s run was set during the of the war. My mother used to mention how certain aspects of that show, particularly those dealing with the war, reminded her of actual events from her childhood.

So I’ve always had a certain fascination with this period of the world’s history. Over the years I’ve been honored to interview veterans from that conflict, including one who survived the Bataan Death March, and a half dozen who were part of the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

I have to confess that I just assumed all of those veterans returned from their service to parades and parties welcoming them home. That’s what happened in all the movies, right? And when veterans of later wars complained they were not treated as well as WW II vets, that furthered my belief that all those who served during that conflict must have come home to great fanfare.

It wasn’t until reading a story by The News’ Mondee Tilley — who, incidentally, spent a long day serving as a volunteer guardian for Wagoner, Reynolds, and Langhurst during their flight last week — that I learned these men and women didn’t all come home to a hero’s welcome.

The parades and parties did happen in New York and other large cities, but these veterans by and large simply returned to their homes, took up their jobs and went about the task of building a life for themselves and their families.

This has been called the greatest generation and the silent generation. I don’t know if I would agree with the greatest generation designation — the men and women who founded America against incredible odds might be at the top of that list — but it certainly was a great generation. And there is little doubt the name “silent” would be appropriate.

Those who served in this war rarely talk about it. They didn’t 60 years ago, and many still don’t today. We don’t know, and our forbears at that time didn’t know, what horrible anguish many of these people may have suffered. Just as with other wars, these veterans returned with physical disabilities, mental and emotional problems induced by the war, and nightmares about what they had experienced.

But they mostly have kept all of that to themselves. Just as they went off to war in foreign lands to fight an enemy they believed truly could win the conflict, they came back and returned to the workforce and went about building the industrial and economic strength of the nation.

It may be many years after the fact, but I’m glad the World War II Memorial was finally built and opened in 2004, and I’m happy that the men and women from our area who served in this war are getting a chance to see the memorial. It is a thanks which is long overdue.