Eric Haskins led a group of local veterans to Washington, D.C., on Saturday for the dedication of the Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial. It was the third trip organized by Central PA Honor Flight, the local chapter of the national Honor Flight Network that Haskins founded.

Central PA Honor Flight takes veterans from Adams, Franklin and other central Pennsylvania counties on free bus trips to Washington to visit memorials honoring their military service. Each veteran is paired with a volunteer escort for the day.

The new memorial stands at Constitution Avenue and 23rd Street NW, near the Lincoln Memorial. It honors those who served in the 1990–91 Gulf War. Operation Desert Shield began after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. It was followed in January 1991 by Operation Desert Storm, the U.S.-led military campaign that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

Photo by Regina Martin