Within his first year of serving in the Marines, Ruben Flax had earned 3 purple hearts and made Sergeant by the age of 19. However when he returned home in 1968 instead of being commended for his service, he received the exact opposite.
“We were spit on, we had eggs thrown at us. We were called murderers, baby killers, and people throwing the racial card, playing the racial card. I was called an Uncle Tom, you know for going to fight the white man’s war.”
While there is no way to ever repay Ruben and the other that have sacrificed so much, he says that with this honor flight he feels vindicated for that cold welcome he experienced 50 years ago.