Photo Courtesy: Midwest Honor Flight
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KELO) — Six weeks ago Sioux Center, Iowa Navy veteran Ed Brummel wasn’t going on Mission Six of Midwest Honor Flight.
He was at the Avera Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls when his heart stopped beating.
“Luckily it happened at the heart center there in Sioux Falls and they took care of me and put a couple of stents in my heart and here I am six weeks later sitting in Washington, D.C. with the honor flight,” Brummel said.
At first, he didn’t think he was going to make it and called Midwest Honor Flight. However, he quickly recovered enough to be cleared to fly by his doctors.
Two weeks ago, he went back to the Avera Heart Hospital and had a six to seven-hour exam.
“They were very happy with where I was at then, they didn’t have to place defibrillator or anything like that, the heart was healing,” he said.
Brummel said his family was supportive of the trip, which included a strenuous nearly 19-hour day, including fours in the sky.
That didn’t stop Brummel.
Near the end of the trip, he sat on a bench at the Vietnam War Memorial, taking in the sights of his first trip to Washington, D.C.
“It’s very emotional,” Brummel said. “Well I look at it and these are all somebody’s sons, maybe some daughters in there, somebody’s husbands.”
Brummel said the most powerful part of the trip was the arrival at Washington Reagan National Airport.
