| Author | Message | ||
     04buell |
We are spending our Memorial Day volunteering at event to help raise money to send WWII Veterans to Washington D.C. to see the Memorial built for them. http://www.centralillinoishonorflight.org/events.h tm Are any of the rest of you involved with Honor Flight in your areas?  I work pretty closely with the program through my job and the WWII Vets appreciate it so much!!! The 400.00 it costs to send each vet is so important to raise! If you would like to donate, pm Jerry..... | ||
| Iamike |
My wife got to go with her dad (Air Force) last summer from LaCrosse, WI. I stayed home because they wouldn't let me escort anyone. I decided to ride up there anyway to see the air show and greet the Vets when they got back. I was talking to the lady that had organized this group and found out her dad had done a lot of work raising money for the WWII Memorial then died before he got to see it. She was running the flights as a memorial to him. There was a country music concert at the airport when the plane came back. The pilot actually buzzed the concert before he came back around to land. That was really cool to see that huge plane do that. I was in tears watching those guys come off the plane. The past few years we have been getting the vets in our family write their memoires so that the rest of the family can read what they experienced. Keep up the good work Jerry, this means so much to those Vets! | ||
| Tbolt_pilot |
My wife and I have started volunteering for Honor Flight. But we are 5 mins from the Baltimore airport where they land. I am active duty Air Force and there are always groups of all services, CAP, Scouts, and lots of H.F. vols. We normally get all the folks in the gate area involved and have a huge crowd to welcome them. Every one of those guys is surprised when they pop out of the tunnel into the terminal to thunderous applause and flags waving. They turn into 20 year old kids again. A few weeks ago there was a flight from middle TN (where I am from) and by chance I met a fellow from my hometown. His daughter was my Sunday school teacher and her husband the pastor of our church. He knows my whole family! Greeting the Honor Flights is one of the greatest things I've ever done. There were so many of them that said they didn't get any kind of welcome like this in '45 and appreciated it so much. And they are all just itching to tell their stories to someone. And there were some amazing stories. One B-17 tail gunner told me that was the first flight where he got to see where he was going instead of where he'd been. If you can, volunteer any time you can spare to help these heroes make a journey to DC to see THEIR memorial, and to let them pay respects to their friends who also never got a welcome home. | ||
| U4euh |
Just downloaded the application,thanks for the link. My kinda stuff | ||
| 04buell |
We have another meeting this evening to help plan our fundraiser event. We have some WWII vets on the committee that have been on the flight....plus some chaperones....plus the president and founder of the Central Illinois group. The meetings get kind of emotional at times. Thats what makes them great!!! What a great organization. | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
Jerry, what a great cause! Just wanted to point out there is a donate4 section. even if we all donated $5.oo and skipped the mochafrapadodad it would help.. I said I wouldn't donate money this year (very tight year) I lied... Is this only in IL? or will they fly vets from other states and leave from there? | ||
| 04buell |
They fly from all states I believe. Give me some time to look up that link..... Looks like honorflight.org catches them all. If you google honor flight you get your choice of a bunch of different states. (Message edited by 04buell on May 18, 2010) (Message edited by 04buell on May 18, 2010) | ||
| Iamike |
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| 04buell |
Awesome picture....this is what its all about!!!!!! I have talked to several of the Vets myself and once they get to talking, they just can't stop. I am telling you, If you get involved to the extent that you meet the people, you won't be able to stop at one event. These Vets touch your heart. Jerry and I are really looking forward to Memorial Day. There are several Vets that will be there that are going to tell their stories. Both wartime and Honor Flight. Carol | ||
| Iamike |
When I get home tonight I'll post a couple of them in DC. My wife said that the airport experince when the military personnel and Senator Bob Dole were greeting them was pretty inspiring. | ||
| Snub13 |
I was at Dulles Airport last week for a conference and several people from the Metro Washington Airports Authority talked about this. They all gave a lot of credit to the MWAA Administration for supporting this program. As I understand it the airport and everyone involved really goes all out for these guys (well deserved of course!). They said it is quite a class act. | ||
| Iamike |
Here are a couple from DC   |
