April 21 is Honor Flight Day in LaRue County
PMG-ky2.com
By Victoria Cox Editor
In 20 days, three LaRue County men who left their homes and families to defend our nation and the freedoms enjoyed today will travel to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials dedicated to honoring their service and sacrifices. April 21, 2026, has therefore been proclaimed as Honor Flight Day in LaRue County.
The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to locating, identifying and transporting eligible veterans on an all-expenses-paid tour of their memorials at the nation’s capital. Honor Flight Bluegrass is a chapter of the network based in Louisville that was created to honor America’s WWII, Korea War, Cold War, and Vietnam War veterans for all their sacrifices.
The round-trip flights not only allow these veterans the opportunity to see the monuments dedicated to their service, but for many, especially Vietnam vets, the flights, and especially the people greeting them at airports, give them closure and a welcome home they never received when they returned from war.
Three LaRue County Vietnam veterans will embark on this journey on April 21: Ronnie Benningfield, Earl Riggs and Gene Keith. On account of this, LaRue County Judge Executive Blake Durrett has proclaimed the day as Honor Flight Day in an effort to call upon all citizens to express their deep gratitude and admiration for the sacrifices of our veterans.
“I’ve not served our country as they have, but I do love to honor them because I think we need them as a member of our society; we need to remember where we’ve been,” Durrett said. “[Vietnam veterans] did not get a very good welcome back to the United States, so we’re going to give them plenty of a good welcome.”
Riggs attended the LaRue County Fiscal Court’s Tuesday, March 24 meeting to accept the proclamation.
“When I was there – and I’m not saying this for you all to feel sorry for me – 200 Americans were killed a day; I didn’t even know that until I left,” he said. “I don’t know what you think about Vietnam veterans, but all I know is I served with some of the bravest men and women in the world.”
The LaRue County Herald News will provide coverage of the honor flight recipients and their experiences after the trip.