Pahrump Korean War veteran honored on Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C.

A water-cannon salute greeted Mahlon Broadwater when the 90-year-old Pahrump resident returned from Honor Flight Southern Nevada’s April trip to Washington, D.C., a run that put a local Korean War veteran at the center of a regional effort to honor aging service members while they are still alive.

Broadwater traveled with his son-in-law, Donald Western, as part of a group of 34 veterans. Five of the travelers came from the Korean War era, and the rest were Vietnam veterans. The trip included a sendoff and a welcome home from crowds of friends, family and supporters, a barbecue dinner in Baltimore and visits to the memorials in Washington built for the wars in which they served. Broadwater described the experience as one of the greatest of his life and urged other veterans to go if they get the chance.

Honor Flight Southern Nevada says those trips are reserved for U.S. veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and that the flights to Washington are completely free. The Southern Nevada hub is a 501(c)(3) all-volunteer nonprofit founded in 2013 and part of the Honor Flight Network, which began in Dayton, Ohio, in 2005 and now says it has 130 hub cities nationwide. Its service area includes Pahrump, Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Tonopah, Ely, Mesquite and Laughlin.

For Nye County families, the program’s reach matters as much as the ceremony. Veterans in the service area can apply for the flight program, while those who cannot travel physically can take part through Honor Everywhere 360, a virtual-reality option the organization says brings the memorial experience to older or frailer veterans. That gives families a way to make sure service is recognized even when a veteran can no longer handle the trip to Washington.

Broadwater’s flight also underscored how quickly the Honor Flight window is narrowing as the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam generations age. In Pahrump, where military service remains a visible part of civic life, the trip turned one veteran’s history into a community event, with volunteers, relatives and supporters helping carry him from Southern Nevada to the memorials and back home.