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WWII nurse Kathleen Briard is surrounded by a younger generation of veterans at the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington D.C., one of whom is Bobbi Scott, bottom right. (Courtesy photo)

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Bobbi Scott is wrapped in the Americana quilt she and 134 other female veterans on the Honor Flight were given. (Courtesy photo)

Champion native has trip of lifetime on all-female Honor Flight

    Sgt. Bobbi (Tropf) Scott wants to tell Bill and Evonne Williams of Omaha: “Mission accomplished.”
    The couple, who operate Patriotic Productions, planned the first Nebraska Female Veterans Honor Flight on Sept. 24.  
    Scott was among the 135 on the Honor Flight solely for women who served in the European or Pacific theaters during World War II, in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War or in Afghanistan or Iraq.
    Scott, who grew up in Champion and graduated from Chase County Schools in 2004, qualified because she served as one of the first female gunners on convoy security missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom as part of the Global War on Terrorism.
    She served in the Army National Guard nine years, enlisting in 2003 during her senior year in high school and was discharged in 2012. She was deployed to Iraq in 2007-08.
    The one-day trip Sept. 24 to Washington D.C., was a full one, Scott said.
    After a 2 a.m. “wake-up call,” busses were boarded in LaVista, an Omaha suburb, and they were transported to Omaha’s Eppley Airfield.
    Greeted by a band, “We had no trouble getting through security,” she said.
    Their 4 a.m. flight from Omaha landed in D.C. at 7:30 ahead of a full day of events.
    They were greeted at the airport gate with people waving American flags, bands and a female choir sang.
    They were immediately chauffeured by bus around the nation’s capital, she said.
    Morning stops included the Iwo Jima Memorial, Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery (where many killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried), the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Pentagon’s 9/11 Memorial.
    After a greeting from Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, they enjoyed lunch and group picture-taking.

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