Hometown Vets Take Honor Flight

by Krista Norton | June 18, 2025

Palmer, visiting the Vietnam memorial, found the name of one of Syracuse’s hometown heroes, killed in Vietnam, Bobby Jantz, “He was truly a good friend.” 

Two hometown Veterans, Van Vesper and Oliver Palmer, recently had the opportunity to travel on the 103rd Kansas Honor Flight to Washington, D. C. 
Vesper said Palmer had been asking him for a long time and during a recent stay at Vesper’s house, Palmer finally convinced him to go. 
The chartered Southwest Airline plane carried 93 Vietnam War veterans, one Korean War veteran, including Honor Flight leaders and volunteers, leaving Wichita June 9 and returned June 11.  
Honor Flight recognizes American veterans for their sacrifices and achievements by flying them to Washington, D.C. to see their war memorials at no cost to the veteran. 
Any Kansas Veteran who served active duty during WWII, Korea, or Vietnam–regardless of whether they served overseas, on a combat tour, or state-side are eligible to go on a Kansas Honor Flight. Veterans are selected by the date the application is received by Kansas Honor Flight.
According to kansashonorflight.org, the inaugural Honor Flight Network Tour took place in May of 2005. Six small planes flew out of Springfield, Ohio taking twelve World War II veterans on a visit to the memorial in Washington, DC. 
August 2005 led to the transition to commercial airline carriers with the goal of accommodating as many veterans as possible. 
Vesper had been to Washington DC in 1969, for a weekend while he was stationed in Virginia, but this was Palmer’s first trip. 
Upon landing in DC, they were loaded onto three tour buses. They stopped for supper then went to their motel to rest up for the next day touring the memorials. 
Their tour began at historic Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the site of the actual Star-Spangled Banner that inspired Frances Scott Key to pen what would become our National Anthem. 
The rest of the day was spent touring the monuments. Vesper said the whole experience was great, but especially was touched watching Palmer participate in the Changing of the Guards Ceremony by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, “It brings tears to your eyes.”  
Palmer said, “I was called and asked if I would and agreed it would be an honor.” He was impressed by the precision of the soldier in each step and the soldier’s respect for the ceremony he was a part of. 
Palmer, visiting the Vietnam Memorial, found the name of one of Syracuse’s hometown heros, killed in Vietnam, Bobby Jantz, “He was truly a good friend.” 
“I’ll never forget January 2, my birthday. I was at the post office and this lieutenant came in, knocked on the post office door and said he wanted to know where Alvin Jantz lived. 
Palmer with tears in his eyes said, “I knew, Bobby Jantz was not with us anymore.”  
Robert Wayne Jantz, son of Alvin and Donna Jantz, brother to local siblings, Kenny Janyz, Toni Miller, and Gail Sibley, enlisted in the United States Army.
Army Warrant Officer Jantz was born June 24. 1947 and died January 2, 1969. He experienced a traumatic event and died through non-hostile action air crash on land. 
Many of us remember that fateful day when we learned of Bobby’s accident. 
Concluding their tour of the monuments, they attended a banquet. Vesper said they announced, “Mail call probably wasn’t too good for you guys, so we are going to have mail call here.” 
Vesper said, “I didn’t think much about it and the next thing I know they called my name, and a stack of cards and letters were brought to me which were organized by the emergency contact on my application.” 
When he was in Vietnam, he received letters from his mom and sister but remembers one, a Christmas present from a girl in Holly, Colo. 
“This girl was head of the FHA and all these girls, that I did not know, wrote me a letter on adding machine paper, it was a pretty nice deal!” said Vesper. 
Vesper’s daughter, Emily Leis, accompanied her father on the trip because he was unable to walk the duration of the tour, “Emily pushed me in the wheelchair almost five miles. She enjoyed it and wants to volunteer to help on a future honor flight.” 
Emily felt fortunate to go with her dad, “I will cherish this trip forever. I have never felt more proud of my Dad and all the other Veterans who have served our country.”
She remembers tears falling frequently throughout the trip, from the moment they stepped off the plane in Washington, D. C., throughout the memorials and once they returned home. 
“Individuals made a point to show their appreciation to all the veterans in the group. My favorite part of the trip was hearing the stories shared between the veterans and seeing the pride they all have for our country,” said Emily. 
When they returned to Wichita, they made their way to the Red Roof Inn Conference Center at the airport where they were greeted by a large crowd of people welcoming them back home. 
Vesper said, “This guy I know who went on it last year said it will bring tears to your eyes, and it did, it was just wonderful!”
Palmer said, “The big crowd was so welcoming, different than when I came home before, except for people in Syracuse who welcomed us with open arms.” 
Palmer graduated SHS in 1964, Vesper 1968, the two were drafted and began their service, both ending up in Vietnam. 
Palmer went to college two years, laying out the third semester because he was tired of school and was drafted in November, “My deferment did not last long.” 
He was sent to El Paso for basic training, then to Detroit, Michigan for nine months, where there were missile sites. 
“Orders came in to go to Vietnam, and I was sure there was a mistake, with my leave, travel time, I had less than a year, but the next morning they told me I was going,” said Palmer. 
His tour in Vietnam began March 15th, to November 15th. “At first I did not know what I was going to be doing and was sent to a holding company in Saigon, then transferred to tent city for two more days.”  
The lieutenant came by to take him to the airport where they boarded a Beach Bonanza. “I asked where we were going, one of them said, you’ll know when you get there.”
Arriving in Quy Nhon where he was to be stationed, he saw a four or five story radio station that was riddled with bullets, “I was there just after that attack, I lucked out for sure.”
He worked in the Criminal Investigation Division, typing cases, did some interrogation, but felt fortunate he was not in the jungle, but in the office. 
“I will never forget the day when my grumpy warrant officer told me somebody out here wants to see you,” said Palmer, “I walked out there, and it was Tim (Haslett)!”
“Thirteen thousand miles from home and you meet up with someone from your hometown,” said Palmer. “I went back and told my warrant officer, I’m gone!”
Haslett had brought some Red Cross girls and some of his men down to the in-country R & R Center which was a popular beach resort located about 60 miles southeast of Saigon, “I don’t know how he found out I was there, never did ask him!”  
He was driving a ¾ ton jeep with the spare tire on the side. Years later, upon returning home, Haslett told him the story about when he was driving back home, he got kind of close to a truck and tore the tire off the side. 
Palmer asked him if he stopped to pick it up, to which Haslett replied, heck no! 
When Palmer’s time was up, they wanted him to extend his time for six months, but he was ready to come home, maybe due in part after he received a letter from his mom asking him to come home. 
“One morning I heard my captain typing and I asked what he was doing to which he replied, typing your extension papers and handed them to me,” Palmer told him what he could do with those papers. 
He flew into Seattle, then to Denver where his mom was waiting. “I froze all winter,” said Palmer.
He explained, “It was hot and humid there. I sweated all the time. The first night was the most miserable night, those mosquitoes about ate me alive.”
He had 90 days to reup, “But I was having too much fun,” he said, “Hindsight, I should have stayed, I had a good job.” 
Vesper’s service began in Fort Lewis, Washington. “They had a blackboard up there with MOS and I thought, who the heck knew what an MOS was?” 
In the military, MOS stands for Military Occupational Specialty. It’s a system used by the U.S. Armed Forces to categorize and classify jobs within each branch, essentially defining a service member’s specific role and skills. 
“It said aircraft maintenance, so I thought, should I be here for two years and not learn anything or join for a third year and maybe learn something, so I joined for three,” said Vesper. 
Their obligation to him with that number of MOS was two weeks of door gunner school. He then became a crew chief, “I thought all this means is working on the helicopter and then working as a door gunner on the other side of the helicopter!”  
The two both agreed the Honor Flight was truly an honor and appreciated the red-carpet treatment they received. 
When asked what they would you say to people who have not gone on the Honor Flight, they both agreed, “Sign up and get ready to go, don’t even think about it!”