Springfield / Ohio / United States
Ellis County Honor Flight Honor Flight National has numerous hubs operating all across the United States with a common goal, that is: to take as many of the remaining WWII veterans as possible to Washington to see the WWII Memorial before it is too late. We are losing 1000+ each day of these heroes from the "Greatest Generation". They and their families served and sacrificed so we as a nation can continue to enjoy the freedoms we have today. This is our way of recognizing and honoring their service to our country. To date the Honor Flight Network has been able to take more than 13, 000 WWII veterans to see their Memorial that took almost 60 years to get built, it was dedicated in late2004. The purpose and goal of Ellis County Honor Flight is to take as many World War II Veterans to Washington, DC to see the National Mall which they sacrificed their family, time & lives. We also tour the Arlington Cemetery, witness the changing of the guards, the Iwo Jima Memorial, have toured the Capitol, the Pentagon, and have a lovely driving tour of the city each time. We plan something a little different each time in order to "fine tune" the trip. We have great support from Congressman Joe Barton and his staff in assisting with some of these opportunities. A further bit of information about Ellis County HUB, we travel with 56 persons, 42 of those being WWII Veterans, and 20 being guardians (chaperones). Guardians pay their own airfare, hotel accommodations, food, transportation expense and miscellaneous which are estimated to be approximately $700.00 per person. The Veterans all travel at NO expense to them, made possible by individual and corporate donations from our local area. We would ask that you share our story so that is could undoubtedly benefit the efforts of every Honor Flight organization now operating and could influence others to organize a hub in their area or support established hubs that they may not even know about. Though we would welcome a donation from the your organization, I feel it would be much more valuable for you to publicize the efforts of not only Ellis County Honor Flight but those of all the recognized hubs of the Honor Flight Network on your program. [email protected] Ellis County Honor Flight http: //www.elliscountyhonorflight.org History of Honor Flight The inaugural Honor Flight took place in May of 2005. Six small planes flew out of Springfield, Ohio taking twelve World War II veterans on a visit to the memorial in Washington, DC. In August of 2005, an ever-expanding waiting list of veterans led our transition to commercial airline carriers with the goal of accommodating as many veterans as possible. Partnering with HonorAir in Hendersonville, North Carolina, we formed the "Honor Flight Network." Today, we continue working aggressively to expand our programs to other cities across the nation.
