FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Veteran after veteran received the welcome home they’ve waited decades for.
A far cry from what Dean Eller came home to 57 years ago.
“The only people who even talked to me were soliciting donations,” he said. “That was my welcome home.”
Eller, like so many Vietnam veterans, was met with hostility rooted in an unpopular war.
Like so many Vietnam veterans, he threw out what he had cried, sweat and bled in while half a world away.
“Because of the protests that were going on, I took my duffel bag, I took it over to the largest garbage can I could find while I was still at the LAX airport,” he said. “I took out my shaving kit, I took the rest of the duffel bag, all my uniforms and dumped it into the garbage can.”
From that point on, Eller says he wouldn’t stand in recognition of his own service alongside other veterans.
Last week, that changed.
For the first time in his life, Eller stood among dozens of fellow veterans as they were honored for their service during October’s Central Valley Honor Flight.
He shared his struggles and how the trip helped him heal from them.
In 1999, he became the President and CEO of the Central California Blood Center.
It was more than a job for him — it was a way to honor his daughter’s legacy.
Jenny Eller was just 17 when she was diagnosed with leukemia. She fought hard for four years, encouraging blood donations all the while.
Jenny was 21 years old when she died, but the generosity of strangers is something her father has never forgotten.
“You cannot, as a father, replace those four years, those four more birthdays and four more Christmases,” Dean said. “The only thing I really didn’t get to see was to see my daughter get married. Other than that, blood donors gave me an entire lifetime of memories.”
Earlier this year, the Honor Flight was almost cancelled due to a lack of funds.
Instead of one more disappointment, there was one more show of kindness — the people of the Central Valley coming together to find that flight.
“They were not going to let the veterans who were already scheduled to go not go,” Dean said. “One more disappointment in their lives. One more downer. They were not going to let that happen, and they didn’t. God bless them.”
By ABC 30’s Kerry Mannix on Instagram.
