A day to remember: Grandson accompanies veterans on Honor Flight

By Audrey Posten

According to the Honor Flight Network, over 317,000 United States veterans have participated in an Honor Flight to Washington D.C. since 2005—sharing in a day of honor at the nation’s memorials. 

Dan Steffen from Guttenberg and Jim Hopkins from Manchester joined those ranks on May 19, through the Honor Flight of Dubuque and the Tri-States. The two were accompanied by their grandson, Dominique Mast, of Guttenberg, making the experience even more memorable.

Hopkins and Steffen are both Army veterans. Hopkins enlisted in October 1963, and was stationed in several places around the United States before heading to Germany. 

“I was in the Army Security Agency and I ended up being an intercept equipment repairman in Germany,” he explained. “I was up in the northeastern part, near what they call the Fulda Gap, which was where they figured the Soviets, if they came over, would come through that area. Since I was in the Army Security Agency, we were intercepting stuff, sitting on a little mountaintop with a bunch of antennas pointing northeast all the way around to southeast.”

Hopkins even had a German driver’s license, allowing him to drive trucks full of test equipment back and forth across Germany on the Autobahn highway system. 

“I was also one of the few American soldiers at that time that had a German hunting license,” Hopkins quipped.

Eight years after his Army service concluded, Hopkins joined the Army National Guard, serving for 28 years until his retirement in 2003 as a sergeant first class, or E7.  

Hopkins was a mechanic and radio repairman, and early on was in the electronic maintenance part of a signal unit. By the end of his career, he was in charge of the TOW and dragon missile repair section. 

“That required going to the units around the state of Iowa to work on their systems. We would have to check the system to make sure it works, and then we’d let the infantry fire the missiles and watch them go. Most of the time they went where they were supposed to,” he said.

Steffen entered the military in August 1971, attending basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. (the same as Hopkins), then missile school at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala.

“Everything was underground,” he recalled of the latter site. “You drove your car in and the car disappeared and that was all you’d see of them until it was quitting time, and then the car’s leaving.” 

“That was a munitions and missile school. We didn’t learn much about munitions, but we did learn a lot about missiles. That was an eight-week course, like going to high school,” he added.

Steffen eventually received orders to go to Vietnam, and was processed and ready to leave before the orders were pulled. Similar to Hopkins, he went to Germany instead. He was stationed on the Siegfried Line, on the French border. 

“It was a pretty large missile depot. All we did is basically store them and service them. Every so often, we had to take them out by order and they had to go to the shop and they’d go through them,” he said. “Every once in a while, we’d have to transfer warheads from one place to another. One time we took a whole train car load of them, all covered up. They put us on a passenger car and they told us to make sure that they don’t unhook us. We had to stand guard on it when we were sitting still.”

Due to his location, Steffen was able to visit parts of Germany, as well as France, Luxembourg and Belgium. He later learned some of his ancestors originated from northeast Belgium, within 20 miles of where he visited. 

“It would have been nice to know that at the time,” he said.

During an interview in early June, Steffen and Hopkins enjoyed reminiscing about their military careers and shared experiences in Germany. It was something they hadn’t done previously.

“We never met until relatively recently,” Hopkins said, when his stepson married Steffen’s daughter.

It was Dana Mast who helped the two apply for the Honor Flight and encouraged son Dominique to go with them. 

“Not that they needed assistance,” she said, “but it’s just nice. It’s not very often people Dominique’s age take people on the Honor Flight.”

At 17, Dominique Mast confirmed he was the youngest guardian on the flight, which had over 80 veterans, including one nearly-100-year-old from World War II.

When the idea was posed to him, “I was like, that might be pretty cool, but it might be a little of work too,” Mast acknowledged, “but it was a really good trip.”

The group arrived in Dubuque around 5 a.m. the day of the Honor Flight, and were in the air by 7 a.m. After touching down in D.C., they boarded buses that took them to sites across the city. 

“The first monument we went to was the Iwo Jima Monument,” Hopkins recalled. 

One of his favorites was the Air Force Memorial, whose three stainless steel spires soar into the sky.

“I don’t know how they got them as high as they did and how they made them,” Hopkins said. “We were given a little bit of the history on it, and the fact that it’s all new because the airplane that flew into the Pentagon went through them and knocked them down. Hit them first and went right into the Pentagon. We could see the Pentagon from up there.”

Steffen was impressed by the Lincoln Memorial as well as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 

“I’ve seen the portable wall up here at the fairgrounds, but not that big wall. That was impressive,” he said.

“It just seems like you start looking at it from the entry, and it just keeps going on and on and on and on. There’s so many names,” Hopkins noted. “Some of them [on the Honor Flight] found names.”

Dominique Mast appreciated the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, despite the fact traffic prevented the group from viewing the full changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

“I want to go back and spend more time,” he said. “There are over 420,000 burials in there already, and they do 20 burials a day.”

The cemetery was moving for Mast’s grandfathers too.

“The land isn’t flat. It’s hilly, with stones all over them,” Hopkins described. 

“It’s just amazing, any way you look,” Steffen said.

At the World War II memorial, veterans and their guardians were greeted by U.S. Senator Joni Ernst. 

“She mingled around and was really, really friendly,” noted Steffen.

Hopkins’ youngest son and his family live near Washington, D.C., and they were able to meet up with the visitors during the Honor Flight tour, making for another highlight. He and Steffen also enjoyed meeting other veterans, learning about where they were from and in what branch they served. 

Hopkins was impressed with how well organized the Honor Flight was. 

“You got meals and they had water supplied for you if you got thirsty. There were overseers and helpers. They’d help everybody get on or off, or if you needed anything,” he said. 

On the flight, veterans were surprised by “mail call.” Each received a packet of pre-written letters from friends and family, fellow service members and even area school children.

“That was really nice,” Hopkins said. 

“These are from my grandkids. There’s a whole mess of them,” Steffen said, flipping through a stack of letters and drawings.

The veterans were also treated to a welcome back ceremony at the Grand River Center in Dubuque. Unfortunately, bad weather meant the plane had to circle several hours, pushing the reception from 10 p.m. to around 1:30 a.m. The band and some well-wishers had to leave, but the response was still overwhelming, according to Steffen.

“It was a big hall and just tons and tons and tons of people. A lot of kids. Big signs said ‘welcome back.’ It was just amazing,” he reflected.

Mast said the Honor Flight experience is one he’ll always remember. It gave him a new appreciation for his grandfathers’ military service. 

“I thought it was really cool I got to do it with both of them. I really liked it,” he said.

Steffen encourages other veterans who haven’t made the Honor Flight trip to do so. 

“It’s stuff you’ve seen for years and years when you went through school and read about it in your history books. Then, you didn’t think you’d ever get to see something like that,” he shared. “You’ve got to do it. There’s so much to see, so much to do. The pictures don’t do it justice.”