RALEIGH, N.C. -- It was a disappointing Memorial Day for a crew of Vietnam vets who'd spent a year planning a fly-over at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.

They'd flown restored Vietnam-era helicopters from the west coast to be the airborne component of the Rolling Thunder ride motorcycle ride to the wall.

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But, at the last minute, their clearance to fly over the memorial was revoked and the fleet was grounded.

Now, they're on their way home. They made a refueling and overnight rest stop in Raleigh Monday where a handful of vets caught up with them.

As the choppers skimmed low over the tarmac at RDU, the  faces of the waiting vets told the story.

“I've got 339 combat missions in that,” said Joe Versace of Garner.

When the chopper landed, he  approached it, almost with reverence.

“It's a time capsule,” said flight organizer and pilot Pat Rodgers.

It’s also snapshot from a war the public tried to forget, but that the vets can’t put out of their minds.

“You still think about it every day,” said vet Bob Krzynowek. “When we came back, the public wasn't very happy with the war.”

And that's why the restored helicopters made the trip from California to Washington. They were going to do a fly-by over the Vietnam memorial, to remember those the public repudiated.

“There was like five agencies we had to have waivers through, and at the last minute, the day prior to the flyby, they told us our waiver was denied,” Rodgers said. 

“That was disappointment," said pilot Tom Woehl.

But the vets are undaunted. They said their choppers survived being shot, and they survived being shot down by a bureaucrat's rule book. Instead of flying over the wall, they went there on foot.

Woehl said he made sure he went, to honor a son's memory of chopper pilot dad.

“I was able to put those two patches right by his dad's name at line 10 of the Vietnam memorial,” said Woehl.

For now, the vets will have to content themselves with making stops like the Monday  in Raleigh where they met with comrades who survived.

Although the vets were denied the chance this time to fly over the wall, they say they’ll try again and again until they finally get permission to do something that will honor their fallen comrades.

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