With decades of public service behind him, Percy Thibeault thought he’d experienced just about every milestone there was.
Then the Frenchville veteran went on an Honor Flight. Weeks later, he still teared up when he recalled how it felt.
Every state participates in the nonprofit program that has sent nearly 340,000 veterans to view memorials in Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, over the past 20 years. Designed to recognize the service and sacrifices of veterans nationwide, the experience offers the welcome home some never had.
Thibeault served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He had a positive homecoming, but knows many others did not, he said. Still, when his Honor Flight group made its first stop, the reception blew him away.
“The thing that really hit me is we arrived at the Baltimore airport [and] they had kids, 7, 8 years old, and adults welcoming us and saying, ‘Thank you for serving.’ And to me — tears,” he said. “To see that, it was something.”
Thibeault made the trip through Honor Flight Maine, which has sent more than 1,600 veterans to view the memorials since its 2014 launch. The statewide group conducts four flights a year. Veterans choose a companion to accompany them.
Free to veterans, the tours stop at sites such as the Marine Corps Memorial (the statue of Iwo Jima), Air Force Memorial, U.S. Navy Memorial, Military Women’s Memorial, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Wall and Korean War Memorial. They also observe the solemn changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, according to a state itinerary.
Thibeault’s group departed from Bangor on Oct. 15, he said. They may have been strangers when they started, but became family through the journey.
“When you’re in the service, there are a lot of things that happen, but you don’t talk about it,” he said, adding that for some in his group, the trip allowed them to talk for the first time about their war experiences with people who understood.
He had “a couple of close calls” in Vietnam, he said, including in January 1968, when he landed in the aftermath of the Chu Lai bombing during the Tet Offensive.
The Viet Cong had attacked the Marines’ Chu Lai Air Base and blew up the bomb storage site, resulting in a mushroom cloud explosion from the ordnance and napalm, according to an account by James Ronan on the social media page Vietnam Air War.
Many jets were damaged, Thibeault recalled. His unit spent seven days in a bunker for protection.
Following Vietnam, he eventually returned to the St. John Valley and began a more than 40-year law enforcement career with the Madawaska Police Department. He was the first officer from the department to graduate from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, he said.
In combination with his Madawaska job, he also worked stints as a sheriff’s deputy, school DARE officer and court security.
Then things took a different turn.
“I was at the Zayre’s in Madawaska and there was a kid there with his mother who choked on a piece of candy,” he said. “I was in uniform, waiting in line, and the mother said, ‘You’re a police officer. Can you help him?’ And I didn’t know what to do.”
He immediately started emergency medical services training, he said. That became his new full-time venture, and eventually he became director of Madawaska’s ambulance services while he continued part-time policing.
Now retired, he participates in the American Legion and other veterans groups, along with church and community efforts. He’s written a book about his life: “Percy Thibeault: A Life of Service,” published last month.
He had heard about Honor Flight for years. To share it with fellow servicemembers was one thing. But Thibeault went with this son, Bruce, a current Marine. That made the trip all the more meaningful, he said.
Bruce had a surprise for his father during the journey. He read a letter to Thibeault from the whole family, which includes Thibeault’s wife, Claudette, daughter Kelly, Bruce and his wife, Renee, and grandchildren Peighton, Sterling and Greyson.
The family may not know what Thibeault experienced in the military, but they do know what he brought home and the values he instilled, Bruce Thibeault’s letter stated.
“You brought home the leadership, strength, discipline, courage and core values that you learned in the service,” he wrote. “I am especially grateful that you asked me to be your guardian on Honor Flight Maine. It is an honor I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
“We love you, we are proud of you, and we are forever grateful that you chose to serve our country,” the letter concluded.
Though every memorial Thibeault’s group visited made an impact, he was most struck by the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the elite U.S. Army Old Guard unit patrols meticulously and incessantly.
It is precise and there is absolute silence, Thibeault said. Four from the group joined in placing a wreath there.
A favorite part of the trip was the final mail call, which occurred when they returned to Bangor. In a celebration reminiscent of soldiers receiving mail from home, each veteran received a packet with Honor Flight memorabilia and letters from people across the country thanking them for their service.
Honor Flight Maine’s next trip is slated to leave from Portland on April 16.
Thibeault wishes more veterans could experience Honor Flight. He urged anyone undecided to apply.
“They treated us like royalty,” he said. “I mean, this is all of us. It doesn’t matter what branch of service or what state. It’s America.”