Editor's note: Among the nearly 400 WWII vets who traveled to Washington Friday was Lawrence Huddle, father of the Journal Star's Catharine Huddle.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The day in D.C. was nearly done.

Nearly 400 World War II veterans from Nebraska had touched down in a 747 at Dulles National Airport at 10 Friday morning.

Six and a half hours later, the vets who flew aboard the seventh and final Heartland Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial were on the bus, headed back to Dulles.

They'd had a long day.

They got up at about 2 a.m. for a traveler's dream-come-true TSA experience at the Holiday Inn Central in Omaha.

After lots of jokes about how much hardware many of them were packing - artificial hips, fused spines, replaced knees - they sailed through security on the hotel's first floor.

No metal detectors, no taking off their shoes. Just good-natured TSA workers doing a quick patdown and sending them through.

After the flight touched down in the nation's capital, the veterans met up with family members who flew out to meet them, and the tour was on.

First stop was the World War II Memorial, a gorgeous new fixture on the National Mall.

The vets, including my dad, Radioman 3rd Class Lawrence Huddle of Madison, took in the sights - somber but impressed with the monument that features architecture and tributes befitting the Greatest Generation.

These guys, including my 85-year-old father, don't know why it took so long for the monument to be built.

"I hate to think about what those guys who went to Vietnam went through," Dad said. "None of that was their fault."

Maybe the poor treatment of returning Vietnam veterans explained why their memorial got built so much sooner - maybe the country needed to let them know it appreciated their sacrifices.

The WWII vets always have known. And on Friday, they were honored at every turn.

Firetrucks sprayed a tribute of water arches over their plane when it landed. Dozens of people - many serving in the military today - lined up to salute their seniors at Dulles, thanking them for their service and shaking their hands.

And at the WWII monument, many people there with other groups or their families stopped to greet the red-clad Nebraskans.

After the WWII stop, nearly a dozen buses carrying the Nebraska group took a driving tour, passing the Capitol, the White House, the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building and other iconic sites.

Then they headed to the Korean War Memorial. As my dad said, the statues of American soldiers charging up the hill there were haunting.

"They're so lifelike," he said. "Or, I guess, death-like."

Then the bus stopped at the statue of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. Many of the vets opted to stay on the bus at that stop.

Lunch during the driving tour - and climbing up and down more stairs than many of them likely have for years - left them a little weary.

But at the next stop, Arlington National Cemetery, it was man-the-wheelchairs-and-walkers, grab-the-oxygen-tanks-and-cameras as they trouped down to watch the changing of the guard.

With some teary eyes, the nearly all-male group of Nebraska vets watched the ceremony in silence, riveted to the formal ceremony performed by the Third Infantry.

"So many, many graves," said my dad.

Reach Catharine Huddle at 473-7250 or chuddle@journalstar.com