If you know a Cook County veteran, especially one from World War II, who might like to take trip to Washington, D.C., Honor Flight Northland is now accepting applications from all veterans living in the following counties: Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, Pine, and St. Louis.
The next Honor Flight will be on April 29, 2017.
The program is accepting applications from World War II vets as a priority followed by Korean and Vietnam vets with the remaining seats going to vets from other conflicts. If a veteran of any period is terminally ill, they will also be given top priority.
The Honor Flight Network is a nonprofit organization created to honor America’s veterans for all of their sacrifices by transporting them to Washington, D.C. to visit their memorials.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 640 World War II veterans die each day. Honor Flight Network will continue to do whatever it takes to fulfill the dreams of our veterans and help our heroes travel free.
Earl Morse, a physician’s assistant and retired Air Force Captain, conceived of the Honor Flight program after the completion of the World War II Memorial in May of 2004. Following his retirement from the Air Force Morse went to work for the Department of Veterans Affairs in a small clinic in Springfield, Ohio. He asked World War II veterans if they planned to visit the completed memorial honoring them but quickly realized many were either financially or physically incapable of making the journey.
Morse, who was also a private pilot and a member of one of the largest aero clubs in the country, asked one of his patients if he could fly him free of charge to Washington to see the memorial and the man tearfully accepted. A second request was also approved, again from a tearful vet who had no other way of seeing the memorial. With that, Morse called a meeting with 150 pilots, and he outlined the Honor Flight program with two major stipulations. The first was that veterans would pay nothing. The second called on the pilots to pay the $600 to $1,200 cost and escort the vets once they arrived in Washington, D.C. Eleven pilots came forward, and Honor Flights were born.
The first Honor Flight tour took place in 2005 when six small planes flew from Springfield, Ohio taking 12 World War II veterans to visit the memorial in Washington, D.C.
Across the country, there are 21,032 veterans on the wait list to go to Washington, D.C. Of those, 20 percent are World War II vets, 43.5 percent are Korean vets, 36 percent Vietnam vets, and 0.5 percent other vets.
Donations are always accepted. Please send donations to Honor Flight Northland, P.O. Box 7229, Duluth, Minnesota, 55807. For questions, please call 218-409-6110.
Leave a Reply