WASHINGTON (WJW) — Michael Cannon and Dale Canter have made a lifetime of memories together.

They were enrolled in kindergarten the same year, broke high school track records together, shared their wedding days together and also served their country together in Vietnam — albeit, in different branches of the military.

That’s why their daylong trip to Washington, D.C., together on an Oct. 15 honor flight was a “totally overwhelming experience” for the 76-year-old lifelong companions, Cannon said. They reopened chapters in their lives that made them who they are today and revisited the memories of those whom they lost.

“We did our duty as we understood it. We did what our nation asked us to do,” said Canter, an Army veteran, in an impromptu and emotional speech at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. “I’ve always thought that, ‘Let the history determine if we did any good — whether there was any good that came out of that war.’

“But I can tell you one thing that came out of it for me: I was privileged because I walked among brave men. And today, I feel like I’m walking among brave men again.”

‘Each other is all you got’

Cannon, of Strongsville, and Canter, of Broadview Heights, shared an inseparable bond even before their service years.

“Dale and I have never had an argument,” Cannon told FOX 8. “We both have so much mutual respect for each other. … If I called him right now and said, ‘Hey, need your shirt,’ he’d run it over.”

Both ran track for the Maple Heights Mustangs, where they broke school records for the mile relay, with Cannon as the anchor, taking the handoff from Canter.

“He made sure we won,” Canter said with a chuckle.

Both enlisted shortly after graduation, near the height of the Vietnam War. Both of their fathers had served in World War II.

“We thought it was our military obligation,” Canter said.

When Cannon and Canter came back from the war, they said they simply picked their friendship back up where they they left it.

“We just finished the sentence,” said Cannon, who stood in as the best man at his best friend’s wedding.

“I don’t know — we’re just kind of like brothers,” Canter said.

Both later joined the police force. Cannon became a captain in Cleveland Heights and Canter became police chief in Maple Heights.

Speaking to FOX 8, both tried to describe the importance of the bonds with others forged during their service years — but conceded they’re something only other veterans can truly understand.

Canter volunteered for the Army in 1965. He was thrown into the fray, dropped into a jungle where he and others in his unit made camp amid the fighting, he said. He came back in 1967.

“When, particularly, you’re in combat, it’s a stressful situation. You realize that each other is all you got,” he said. “I don’t care if he’s Black, white, red, it doesn’t matter — you’re brothers. … You’ll do anything for these guys and they’d do anything for you. If it was any other way, we’d never win a war.

“I don’t wear the veterans’ hats when I’m out or anything like that. But when I go by someone who’s wearing one, I kinda nod and smile, and they nod and smile — and we know,” Canter said. “We’re acknowledging each other.”

Cannon served four years on a naval destroyer from 1966 to 1970. He first boarded the ship after it returned to port in Newport, Rhode Island, and said he was stunned to see it for the first time — its front-mounted guns had been destroyed in an explosion that injured several sailors.

“A lot of times, I’ll sit when I’m alone. I’ll try to think back about being in the Navy and the smells and the noise, and try to recreate it in my mind,” Cannon said.

“It’s one chapter and it’s one proud chapter. … I grew up and saw a lot of the world. It makes an adult out of one,” he said. “If I had to do it again, I would —believe me.”

‘A military operation’

Two years ago, Cannon jumped at the chance to sign up for a Cleveland honor flight to the Capitol — but the trips had been put on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said.

Honor Flight Cleveland resumed flights this past June, said President and Director Jacob Smith. Since the local nonprofit’s inception nearly two decades ago, Smith estimated it’s flown a couple thousand veterans to see the nation’s war memorials and monuments, he said.

This year, Cannon re-applied, and brought his “brother” Canter along on the Oct. 15 trip. They arrived at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at 3 a.m., where honor flight coordinators were already waiting for them, Canter said.

The veterans were flown to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where they were greeted by applause.

“It brought tears to your eyes,” Cannon said.

They visited the World War II Memorial, where both looked up their fathers’ names. Cannon sent a photo of the listing to his brother and it “made his day,” he said. They watched the Changing of the Guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in Arlington National Cemetery, which Canter’s father liked to visit.

The group also visited the Korean War Veterans Memorial and passed by other landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the FBI Headquarters and the U.S. Mint. In the last several years, Cleveland’s honor flight tour has expanded to include the Military Women’s Memorial, Smith said.

“It was just so patriotic and so great to be a part of it. It just kind of captured the moment,” Cannon said. “It was a totally overwhelming experience.”

Honor Flight Cleveland covered their two meals and transportation. They touched down back in Cleveland at about 11 p.m. that night, with both Cannon and Canter thoroughly impressed by the group’s efficiency and organization.

“What impressed me was there was a lot of logistics,” Canter said.

Nurses were on-hand in case of emergency. Many of the veterans needed wheelchairs that had to be offloaded at each stop and reloaded to continue on their timetable — yet everything moved “right on the button,” he said.

“It was like a military operation,” Canter said. “When something went wrong, they were able to get back on schedule right away.”

‘It’s like I’m back with these guys’

Early on, Honor Flight Cleveland catered mostly to World War II veterans, but it’s now flying more veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars, Smith told FOX 8.

He said he thinks seeing the memorials can offer veterans closure on that part of their lives.

“It kind of evokes something in them. You realize it did matter and so you start talking about it, and you’re there with people your own age,” he said. “That kind of helps them kind of release a little bit. They kind of feel, for a day, like they’re back in the service, so to speak.”

Canter said, while at the FBI Academy in his younger years, he spent his winter months off visiting D.C.’s monuments and memorials. But in all, he’s only visited the Capitol a handful of times, he said.

But many veterans have never seen the memorials, Smith said.

“It’s a very moving thing. In a lot of cases, it brings back a lot of stories,” he said. “We’ve gotten sometimes more thanks from the family than the veterans themselves.”

For some veterans who have closed off that portion of their lives, talking about their time in the service is difficult, Smith said. Even though it may have had a profound impact on their personality, veterans sometimes don’t reveal that to family members, which can strain relationships, he said.

“Dad never talked about anything he did while he was in the service. Now we’re learning things about our dad we didn’t know,” Smith has been told. “They learn a little about themselves and about their family’s history, as to why dad is a certain way.”

Springfield, Ohio, veteran Earl Morse founded the Honor Flight Network in 2005, after meeting a World War II veteran who had never seen the World War II Memorial for himself. Morse, a pilot, flew the man there at his own expense, Smith said. Since then, honor flight programs have sprung up across the country.

“This is really a grassroots Ohio idea that has really spread across the nation,” he said. “It’s something as Ohioans we can be proud of, that really started in our state.”

Another Cleveland honor flight is slated for Nov. 5.

“I think every veteran should probably try to do this, if they can. It takes you back,” Cannon said. “You serve the country, get on with your life and finally you take a step back and say, ‘Look at all that happened to make this country good.’ It’s all there.”

Canter was asked to lay the wreath on their Oct. 15 visit to the Vietnam War memorial.

Just two days earlier, he had laid his older brother to rest — a veteran who spent most of his service in Germany amid the Cold War. Canter said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to make any remarks, but his resolve came through in the moment.

“We did our duty as we understood it. We did what our nation asked us to do,” he told the crowd, emotion rising in his throat. “I’ve always thought that, ‘Let the history determine if we did any good — whether there was any good that came out of that war.’

“But I can tell you one thing that came out of it for me: I was privileged because I walked among brave men. And today, I feel like I’m walking among brave men again.”

Canter said he kept with others from his unit, only a few of whom are still alive. One was his major, whom he wrote just days before he died.

“[His wife] read the letter to him and he smiled and shook his head. She thanked me for giving him some happiness before he died,” he said.

Canter said he thinks the Vietnam War memorial is the most-visited monument, since its impact is still “relatively fresh” for a lot of American families.

“To me, when I go there, I feel like I’m visiting some of the guys that I knew that were killed. The emotions overwhelm you,” Canter said.

“It’s like I’m back with these guys for a minute or two.”