From the warm welcome in Plainfield to taking in the sites in Washington, D.C., Edward Hudson was in awe.

The 94-year-old, who is a resident at Covered Bridge Health Campus in Seymour, was one of 84 veterans selected to go on Indy Honor Flight’s 28th trip to the nation’s capital.

Indy Honor Flight transports World War II, Korea and Vietnam veterans to see their war memorials and the national monuments in Washington, D.C., for free.

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The nonprofit organization was created solely to honor Indiana’s veterans for their service and sacrifice, and top priority is given to the oldest veterans and terminally ill veterans, according to indyhonorflight.org.

It was Hudson’s first trip to Washington, D.C.

“They treated us like royalty,” said Hudson, a U.S. Army veteran who served in World War II. “It was very, very special to get to go. It was one of the most special things I’ve done.”

Kris Bowman, life enrichment director at Covered Bridge Health Campus, said the Live a Dream initiative through the parent company, Trilogy Health Services LLC, helped make the trip possible.

“Part of our goal is to fulfill so many resident dreams per year,” she said. “Ed and I spoke about his military experience and his stories, and just spending time with him, you really get to know that’s a real big part of him.”

After receiving approval from Hudson’s family, Bowman contacted Indy Honor Flight to begin the application process.

“As soon as you put your application in, everybody was there to help to just make sure it happens,” she said. “They were great to work with. It went so smoothly.”

While it’s free for the veterans to go, they can choose someone to go with them as a guardian, but they have to pay their own way. Hudson’s grandson, Bradley Osborne, served as guardian.

“Our home office does a great job helping us find funding, provide funding, and the home office actually paid for his grandson to go,” Bowman said.

This was her first time assisting a resident to go on a flight.

“The whole reason I do what I do is because I love these guys, this generation so much. If you get to know them, they become a part of your family,” Bowman said. “The fact that I get to give back, like Live a Dream, to me, it’s the smallest thing to say ‘thank you’ for everything they’ve done for us. I was just so incredibly excited that he got the chance to go. That’s amazing. He’s super-proud of it.”

Hudson was born in Jennings County and lived there for a while until his family moved to Ogilville and then Seymour when he was 5.

He was a student at Seymour High School when he was drafted. Boot camp was in the hills of Alabama.

Hudson remembers having to pick up logs and hold them steady at different heights, carrying a backpack with supplies weighing 90 pounds plus a gun, running 5 miles and stopping in a field to do pushups.

“They gave us the toughest training they could give,” he said.

After boot camp, he boarded Queen Mary to head to Europe.

“It was one of the biggest ships afloat,” Hudson said. “That was during wartime, and it went zigzagging all the way across the ocean. It took longer to get there because they had to keep from torpedoes shooting at us.”

Once the ship arrived on land, Hudson, a rifleman in an infantry, went through more training to prepare for fighting.

“We were foot soldiers, and most of the places, we marched and walked,” he said. “Occasionally, there would be a truckload of us and pile us in just like cattle, and they would ship us another place and get us out there.”

One day in Germany, he was at the front of a platoon with a couple of other scouts and a tech sergeant when they and the Germans began firing ammunition at each other.

Hudson wound up getting shot.

“They shot me here,” he said, pointing to the left side of his chest. “It went in here in my chest, came out of my back — went clear through me. Just missed my spine, just missed my heart and went through my lung naturally and just missed my spine and my jugular vein and everything. All of our vital parts are right in that area.”

As he was on the ground, the bullet exchange continued. Hudson said that barely missed his head.

“You pretend to be dead. You’re trained for all of that,” he said. “I knew what I was doing. You have to know or else you’d be dead.”

Hudson managed to get a hand on his rifle and hid behind a 3-foot-high wall near a house, where he waited for medics to arrive in a Jeep.

He was taken to a tent hospital for treatment and remained there for several days.

“I think they gave me a shot every hour around the clock to defend it from getting something set in that would kill you,” Hudson said.

He then was flown to a hospital in France before being sent home for a 30-day furlough. Once he was healed up, he planned to go back overseas, but the war ended. He later received a Purple Heart for being wounded in action.

Since his Army service also was over, he went on to different occupations, including welding and assembling at a factory and working for a plasterer. After learning that trade, he started his own plastering business.

He has now been living at Covered Bridge for nearly five years.

Several months ago, he learned about the Indy Honor Flight and was excited to apply and be chosen.

“Just the thought and the anxiety of getting to go and getting ready for it and making preparations and taking the right clothes,” he said, smiling about the days leading up to the trip.

It all started Oct. 19 with a reception at Plainfield High School for dinner, entertainment and time to meet other veterans.

The next day, they were transported to the Indianapolis airport to board a plane.

“That was a big plane. I don’t know how long that thing was,” Hudson said. “I never was afraid because I was just trusting in God and the Lord, and so when they started the motor up in that big thing, I knew it had to be a lot of motors. It was humming for a long time before they pulled out. The first thing you wonder is how in the world do they get that big thing up in the air. Also, how they get it off the ground. It’s a miracle.”

At the airports in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., hundreds of people of all ages were gathered to greet the veterans.

“It is truly humbling to see the reactions of the veterans as they get mobbed by school kids, re-enactors, active-duty soldiers, other Honor Flights’ personnel, tourists, park rangers and D.C. residents,” said Dale True, chairman of Indy Honor Flight.

“All the ‘Thank you for your service,’ kisses, hugs, handshakes and high-fives let our heroes know they are loved and respected for things some of them did long before most of the people involved were even born,” he said. “These men and women made it possible for us to live the way we do. They deserve every bit of recognition we can muster.”

While sightseeing in and around Washington, D.C., there were nine other Honor Flight groups with veterans and volunteers from all over the country.

“We saw it all,” Hudson said of the sightseeing. “It’s breathtaking.”

All veterans received a large image from their military service and handmade signs from various individuals and groups thanking them for their service. Soon, Hudson will receive a book filled with pictures of himself from the trip captured by photographers in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C.

Hudson also was proud to receive dog tags with his name, the date of the flight and the Indy Honor Flight logo on them. One of his daughters gave that to him during a recent family Thanksgiving dinner.

“That was really nice to get it,” he said. “I’m very proud of them.”

As he wears them around his neck, they serve as a reminder of that special day.

“My family, they were all so proud that I got to go,” Hudson said of his five children.

If other veterans get a chance to go on an Indy Honor Flight trip, Hudson said they should go for it.

“They selected me out of the whole bunch, and I’m proud to be chosen. I thought it was really nice of them to do that,” he said. “I’m proud to have served. I love my country, America, and I’m really for it.”

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For information about Indy Honor Flight, visit indyhonorflight.org or email [email protected].

To view pictures of Edward Hudson of Seymour and other veterans going on Flight 28 on Oct. 20, log on to indyhonorflight.org/photos. Photos are free to download.

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