Seventy-two Tri-State veterans and their guardians took an Honor Flight from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) this morning, destined for Washington D.C. to see memorials and participate in ceremonies that honor their service to their country.
Honor Flight Tri-State’s sole mission is to fly veterans 65+, who served stateside or overseas, to their memorials in Washington, D.C. at no cost. All veterans traveling on this flight are from the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and South Eastern Indiana area.
“Our goal is to honor as many veterans as we can,” said Cheryl Popp, director of Honor Flight Tri-State. “If you want to meet and thank the veterans — please come to the airport to be among the many locals welcoming them home at 10:15 p.m. tonight.”
The flight will include visits to the World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Iwo Jima, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the US Air Force Memorial and other Washington D.C. sights.
The flight departed CVG at 8 a.m. It was preceded by bag pipes from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department, a TSA color guard ceremony and other special remarks in the area near the east end of the security checkpoint.
A good send-off for Honors Flight
“These events are always so touching and unique to witness,” said Candace McGraw, chief executive officer, CVG. “We feel privileged to assist with such a special program honoring the veterans in our region.”
The return flight to CVG will arrive at 10:30 p.m. Members of the public are invited to attend the welcome celebration at the welcome point in the main terminal.
A total of 150 people will be on the American Airlines chartered flight. Each veteran is accompanied by a guardian, 60 percent of the guardians are family and 40 percent of the guardians are volunteers.
This is the final Honor Flight Tri-State of the year. 2017 dates will be announced at a later time.
To contribute or volunteer for Honor Flight Tri-State, please visit honorflighttristate.org.
My wife and I are visiting Washington this week from the UK, we were at Arlington this morning(a real eye-opening experience) and we saw these guys and did wonder where they came from, now we know, thank you! Seeing how US vets are treated and the respect they get was a real sight to see, in England we have teams of lawyers trying to figure out how to prosecute our vets if there have been any enemy complaints in the last 30 years and our shameful government condones this!
Well done USA, my respect to you for the way you treat your vets!