Tom Day addresses a crowd of veterans shortly before they take off for the final Patriot Express Honor Trip of the year on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. Day founded Patriot Express — which gives veterans, first responders, chaperones and their families free trips to the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois — in May 2025 as part of an effort to help veterans recreate some of the community they lost after coming home from the service.
Donnie Watson, left, chats with his travel companion, Brett Williams, on a bus heading to the National Museum of Military Vehicles on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026.
Dan Killian, left, returns from a Patriot Express Honor Trip with Jack Gosar, his uncle, on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. For the duration of the two-day trip, Killian toted Flat Stanley — the paper cutout he holds — and took photos of his paper pal to help his 8-year-old nephew Prescott with a school project.
Veterans filter through a hallway leading to an exhibit on the Korean War and the Battle of Chosin Reservoir on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. The museum offers an extensive collection of military memorabilia that represents decades of American military history.
Seth Linaman, left, and his son Koen Linaman admire the centerpiece of the National Museum of Military Vehicles’s Unknown Soldiers Weapons Vault on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. The musket was purportedly used by a Continental Army soldier to kill the first British soldier at the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first military engagement fought by the newly formed army in 1775.
Koen Linaman, 7, maneuvers a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun under National Museum of Military Vehicles Curator Rae Whitley’s watch during a Patriot Express Honor Trip on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. Linaman got two days off school to go to the museum with his father, Seth, who is an Army veteran.
From left: Carol Stenfield, Preston Holmes, Rakeese Jones and Bladimir Soto Gonzalez pose for a quick shot outside the Casper Elks Lodge after unloading from the Patriot Express Honor Trips bus on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. The four were the only active duty members to attend Patriot Express’s October outing. All serve in the Air Force and are stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.
Veterans, chaperones, some family members and volunteers pose after a long bus ride, museum tour and dinner on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, at the National Museum of Military Vehicles. The overnight trip was paid for by Patriot Express Honor Trips, a nonprofit founded in 2025 that takes vets and first responders to the museum a few times per year.
Jack Gosar, center, and Dan Killian, right, chat with a Patriot Express Honor Trips staff member on Friday, Oct. 8, 2026. Gosar, 90, of Casper, served in Korea not long after the 1953 armistice brought open combat in the still-ongoing war to an end.
Koen Linaman, 7, maneuvers a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun under National Museum of Military Vehicles Curator Rae Whitley’s watch during a Patriot Express Honor Trip on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. Linaman got two days off school to go to the museum with his father, Seth, who is an Army veteran.
Veterans filter through a hallway leading to an exhibit on the Korean War and the Battle of Chosin Reservoir on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. The museum offers an extensive collection of military memorabilia that represents decades of American military history.
Seth Linaman, left, and his son Koen Linaman admire the centerpiece of the National Museum of Military Vehicles’s Unknown Soldiers Weapons Vault on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. The musket was purportedly used by a Continental Army soldier to kill the first British soldier at the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first military engagement fought by the newly formed army in 1775.
Donnie Watson, left, chats with his travel companion, Brett Williams, on a bus heading to the National Museum of Military Vehicles on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026.
Dan Killian, left, returns from a Patriot Express Honor Trip with Jack Gosar, his uncle, on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. For the duration of the two-day trip, Killian toted Flat Stanley — the paper cutout he holds — and took photos of his paper pal to help his 8-year-old nephew Prescott with a school project.
Veterans, chaperones, some family members and volunteers pose after a long bus ride, museum tour and dinner on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, at the National Museum of Military Vehicles. The overnight trip was paid for by Patriot Express Honor Trips, a nonprofit founded in 2025 that takes vets and first responders to the museum a few times per year.
Jack Gosar, center, and Dan Killian, right, chat with a Patriot Express Honor Trips staff member on Friday, Oct. 8, 2026. Gosar, 90, of Casper, served in Korea not long after the 1953 armistice brought open combat in the still-ongoing war to an end.
From left: Carol Stenfield, Preston Holmes, Rakeese Jones and Bladimir Soto Gonzalez pose for a quick shot outside the Casper Elks Lodge after unloading from the Patriot Express Honor Trips bus on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. The four were the only active duty members to attend Patriot Express’s October outing. All serve in the Air Force and are stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.
Tom Day addresses a crowd of veterans shortly before they take off for the final Patriot Express Honor Trip of the year on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. Day founded Patriot Express — which gives veterans, first responders, chaperones and their families free trips to the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois — in May 2025 as part of an effort to help veterans recreate some of the community they lost after coming home from the service.
