BATON ROUGE - A local woman who served her country more than 65 years ago will finally see the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Former Lieutenant Josephine Salter is about to turn 90 years old, and thought she would never live to see the monument honoring veterans of the Korean War.
   
"I've been excited about it," Salter told WBRZ. "I've told everybody in St. James about it."

Salter, from Baton Rouge, was a nurse in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. She's prepping to head to D.C. to watch the Changing of the Guard in Arlington National Cemetery. She'll also tour the war memorials.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial features 19 life-sized statues of actual troops who served. During the war, Salter treated an injured airborne soldier.

"The parachute caught fire and stuck to his body, burned his body," she explained.

Dillon Matthews is the head of Honor Flight Louisiana; the program is taking 12 veterans to D.C. Matthews explains that after the Korean War, these 12 veterans didn't return to the States with welcome-home parades and celebrations. 

"The organization is run 100-percent by donations," Matthews said. "We want to give that welcome home to these veterans who never had one."

89-year-old Salter can't wait. She says this is her time.

"I've been jealous of all the old folks who were able to go and I was too young," Salter said. "So when I got an opportunity, I said yes."

Her flight leaves from New Orleans early Saturday morning.