FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Hours before their flight landed back in Fresno, 69 Central California veterans experienced a surprise that transported them decades into the past: mail call.<\/p>\n
As the 34th Honor Flight made its way home, volunteers moved down the aisle of the plane handing out envelopes filled with letters, drawings and messages of thanks.<\/p>\n
The midair delivery echoed memories of military life, when service members waited far from home for word from family and loved ones.<\/p>\n
“All right! Attention! Attention! Honor Flight#34! We got Mail Call!” one volunteer announced as the distribution began.<\/p>\n
Name after name was called as veterans received stacks of envelopes, many addressed simply with gratitude and appreciation.<\/p>\n
The letters came from family members, friends, schoolchildren and strangers, all offering support to men who answered a call to duty.<\/p>\n
“John Buchanan, Navy E-4. You got mail!” a volunteer called out during the delivery.<\/p>\n
For Marine veteran Andy Anderson of Coarsegold, the experience stirred emotions he hadn’t expected.<\/p>\n
“It brought back memories that I haven’t thought about in 50 years, and it was amazing to get this now because I can remember waiting in line for a letter, any letter, and today I got, today on the way home, I got more mail call than I got in the entire boot camp of the Marine Corps,” Anderson said.<\/p>\n
The envelopes revealed what many veterans described as treasured keepsakes, messages of care, handwritten notes and drawings. Some included pictures, while others offered simple words of thanks for military service.<\/p>\n
Air Force veteran Al Osborn of Merced said the outpouring of appreciation was overwhelming.<\/p>\n
“I’m overwhelmed by the fact that so many people have so much appreciation for military service. I always viewed it as serving my country and I didn’t realize it had such an impact,” Osborn said.<\/p>\n
For some veterans, the mail carried special personal meaning. Army veteran Charles Diffey of Fresno received drawings from children in his neighborhood who know him as “Santa Claus.”<\/p>\n
“Some of them are from my little neighbors, and they call me grandpa and I call them my grandkids,” Diffey said.<\/p>\n
Nearby, Marine veteran Leigh Stephens of Fresno read a message sent by his grandchildren.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to give you a hand, a hand, for serving our country,” Stephens read aloud.<\/p>\n
As veterans opened their letters, smiles mixed with tears throughout the cabin.<\/p>\n
The gratitude proved especially overwhelming for the Vietnam veterans, many of whom were demonized when they returned home long ago.<\/p>\n
Army veteran Frank Landeros of Fresno recalled memories of receiving mail during his service overseas.<\/p>\n
“It brought some memories. I remember being in Vietnam, getting the mail from my wife, but it was raining so hard that day that when they gave me the envelope, it was so wet that everything was erased,” Landeros said.<\/p>\n
The mail call marked one of the final moments of the Honor Flight journey, a trip designed to recognize veterans for their service.<\/p>\n
As the plane continued toward Fresno, veterans held tightly to their bundles of letters, many planning to read them again and again.<\/p>\n
The packets will go home with them, carrying fresh memories of gratitude and what they described as one last mission completed with honor.<\/p>\n
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