To Honor Her Father’s Sacrifice, She Devoted Her Life to Healing America’s Veterans

For Diane Hight, honoring veterans isn’t a project — it’s a promise born from love, loss, and a daughter’s devotion to her late father.

Her father, Leland Oliger, served his country during World War II and the Korean Conflict in the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy. Like so many men of his generation, he came home carrying invisible wounds. Long before post-traumatic stress disorder had a name, Diane watched her father struggle with trauma and alcoholism — and saw how deeply it affected her family.

“He suffered so much,” she recalls. “And our family suffered with him.”

Years after his passing, Diane realized that what her father never received — understanding, healing, and honor — was something countless veterans were still missing. And so, in 2006, she made a decision that would change not only her life, but the lives of thousands of veterans: she would help them find peace.

Together with her husband, Greg Hight, Diane founded Forever Young Veterans, a nonprofit dedicated to granting wishes and organizing what she calls Trips of Honor for veterans aged 65 and older — many of whom never received mental health support after their service ended.

Since then, Diane has completed 56 Trips of Honor, bringing veterans to places that hold deep meaning: Washington, D.C.’s war memorials, Arlington National Cemetery, Normandy, Vietnam, South Korea, and beyond. Each journey is carefully designed not just as a trip, but as a moment of recognition, connection, and healing.

One of the most powerful moments comes before the journey even begins.

“When the veterans step off the plane, they’re greeted by crowds applauding them,” Diane says. “Many of them cry. Especially Vietnam veterans — because they weren’t welcomed home. They weren’t honored.”

For many, it’s the first time they’ve ever felt truly seen.

Forever Young Veterans has also helped fulfill deeply personal wishes — from reuniting a World War II veteran with the French woman he fell in love with 75 years earlier, to allowing a former minor league pitcher to throw the ceremonial first pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Some wishes are simple, yet profoundly meaningful.

One World War II pilot wanted only to sit inside a modern aircraft cockpit and talk about how aviation had evolved. What Diane thought would be a short visit turned into a four-hour conversation filled with memories, wonder, and laughter.

Other wishes help veterans rewrite painful endings.

At 95 years old, Luke McLaurine — a former prisoner of war — took part in a tandem skydive. Decades earlier, he had parachuted from a failing plane over Austria to save his life.

“The first time was survival,” he said. “The second time was joy.”

The Trips of Honor also create safe spaces for emotional healing. Veterans take part in guided conversations with psychologists, many speaking about their combat experiences for the very first time. For some, it’s the beginning of letting go of survivor’s guilt.

Vietnam veteran Doug Chaney says walking the memorial walls in Washington, D.C., surrounded by fellow veterans, gave him a sense of peace he’d carried for decades.

“When we’re together,” he says, “we realize it wasn’t our fault.”

Diane believes these moments of closure are the greatest gift of all.

She’s now working to ensure Forever Young Veterans continues long after she’s gone — expanding fundraising efforts and dreaming of doubling the number of trips, so twice as many veterans can be honored.

But at the heart of it all is one man.

“My father is no longer remembered only for his struggles,” Diane says. “Through this work, he has a new legacy — one of honor, healing, and love.”

She pauses, then adds softly:

“I do this for my dad. This is my gift to him.”