Category: Latest News
By WKYT
Alexa Minton
Kentucky Veterans from across the state got the chance to go to the nation’s capital this weekend thanks to Honor Flight Kentucky.
65 Kentucky Service Men and Women, traveled to Washington DC Saturday Morning, to spend time at the veteran memorials – made in their honor.
Since 2010, Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives have sponsored an Honor Flight. Sha Phillips, with Touchstone, shared that, ” We really strive to have that commitment to community, and working with Honor Flight Kentucky is a great way to do that. It’s just a wonderful day to see the expressions and the gratitude that people give the veterans throughout the day”.
The day was emotional for some, as many veterans brought family members along the flight as their guardians. For many veterans, the visit was about much more than seeing the monuments – it was about reconnecting with their military history – and reminding themselves of the camaraderie and family they continue to find in their fellow service men and women.
By WXXI News
Jeremy Moule
Honor Flight Rochester will be given the ceremonial honor of leading the fourth annual Monroe County Veterans Day Parade.
The organization provides veterans with free flights to Washington, D.C., to visit memorials built in their honor.
In years past, the grand marshal has been a person, such as Sheriff Todd Baxter or Alan Levin, who you probably know better as Brother Wease.
But this is the second time a group has been chosen. Last year, The Vietnam Veteran was selected as the parade’s grand marshal to honor the 50th anniversary of that war’s end.
The parade is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 8. It will start at South Goodman Street and Highland Avenue and will continue up Highland to the Greater Rochester Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Gary Beikirch Memorial Park.
Beikirch was a Vietnam vet who served as a combat medic and received the Medal of Honor. He died in 2021.
By WSAW-TV
Caitrin Assaf
For 20 years, veterans across the U.S. have been offered an all-expense paid trip to Washington to tour the nation’s war memorials.
They’re called Honor Flights: a way to thank those who served and remember those who never made it home.
The latest Honor Flight to touch down in D.C. came from the Great River branch, with the entire group of 30 veterans calling Adams County, Ill. home. While the men varied in age and branches served, all were veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf War eras; something that made the visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial all the more special.
Gary Allen was one of those first-time visitors, a Vietnam War veteran himself.
“I lost several relatives in the Vietnam War and friends,” Allen said, ”so I’ve been so looking forward to getting to this.”
Specifically, Allen was looking for a name: Johnnie W. Ator, a close friend who was also engaged to Allen’s first cousin. He died during the war, and the loss is something Allen will never forget.
“You know, we look at [the wall] and I keep saying, ‘Why?,’” said Allen, getting emotional. ”I can’t express it. I wish I could.”
Selfless Among Us: How Tom Petrie Honors Heroes, One Flight at a Time
2 WGRZ
Melissa Holmes
BUFFALO, N.Y. — On Father’s Day weekend in 2013, Tom Petrie thought he was simply going to the airport to support a good cause. His daughter Heather had invited him to greet a group of veterans returning from an Honor Flight—part of a national network of flights that brings aging veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials built in their honor.
He had no idea that visit would change the course of his life.
“I was all in,” he recalls of that first experience. “Once I saw them come home, the expressions on their faces, the welcome home they got—it touched my heart in a way I hadn’t expected.”
That heartfelt spark grew into a decade-long commitment. Today, Petrie serves as the volunteer President of the Board of Directors for Buffalo Niagara Honor Flight, a nonprofit hub in a national network that has transported over 100,000 veterans to Washington. Under Tom’s leadership, the Buffalo Niagara chapter alone has flown more than 1,000 local veterans to their long-overdue recognition.
Honor Flight: Wisconsin WWII veteran takes lifetime trip at age 100
MILWAUKEE – It’s a day made especially for Wisconsin veterans; to remember, to honor, to reflect.
Trip of a lifetime
What we know:
On a Saturday morning in late April, a mighty group of the bravest Wisconsinites boarded a plane in Milwaukee, bound for our nation’s capital.
“How does it feel?” FOX6 News asked Freddie Stachoviak, one of the 114 veterans on Mission #79.
“Pretty good,” Freddie responded. “It’s one of the things on my bucket list.”
Freddie Stachoviak is fine to blend in with this crowd. In fact, he would prefer it. But at 100 years old, he’s the sole member of this Honor Flight representing the Greatest Generation. It’s a chapter of his life he remembers well.
Trenton veteran, 92, has time of his life on Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.
The News Herald
Jackie Martin
“That was the best trip I’ve taken in my life,” Bob Williams, a retired veteran of the U.S. Air Force, said of a flight reserved strictly for those who served in the military.
Williams, a 92-year-old Trenton resident, recently took the trip with about 70 other veterans.
It was organized through the Mid-Michigan Honor Flight Organization.
According to one of his daughters, Rhonda Janice, of Brownstown Twp., the family knew this would be the trip of a lifetime for him — and it didn’t fall short of expectations.
Rhonda Janice traveled to Washington, D.C. with her father, Bob Williams, 92, a retired member of the U.S. Air Force. The trip for veterans was organized through the Mid-Michigan Honor Flight Organization and more than 70 veterans . (Photo courtesy of the Williams family)
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The flight departed out of Flint Bishop International Airport.
Veterans honored with trip to D.C. for Honor Flight Rochester
News10NBC
Rochester Honor Flight flew 62 veterans on its Mission 89, including 52 veterans of the Vietnam War. Since 2008, Honor Flight Rochester has flown over 4,500 veterans, funded entirely by the community.
This is Rochester Honor Flight’s second mission of the year, with four more planned for 2025. The missions have been described as the trip of a lifetime.
Over 100 veterans head to D.C. on Honor Flight Northland
WDIO
A sunny send off for the 100 veterans and about 50 volunteers who headed out on Honor Flight Northland on Saturday morning from the Duluth airport.
A sunny send off for the 100 veterans and about 50 volunteers who headed out on Honor Flight Northland on Saturday morning from the Duluth airport.
Now part of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, the event brings veterans to Washington D.C. for one day, to see their war memorils.
Members of the 148th Fighter Wing helped send them off. So did the Duluth Honor Guard and the Patriot Guard.
Charlie Olson is an 89-year-old Air Force vet from Aurora. “I’ve never been to D.C.,” he told us. “And I never thought I’d get to go.”
Two other veterans on the flight are married. Becky and James Robertshaw met while in the Army. “We just celebrated 50 years of marriage,” she shared.
James said they heard about Honor Flight from a friend, who raved about it. “We are elated and honored, seriously,” he said.
‘It’s living history’: Buffalo-Niagara Honor Flight Mission 19
WIVB.com
Jordan Norkus
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WIVB) — On a cool spring morning, 35 local heroes from the World War II, Korean, Vietnam and Cold War eras set off to the nation’s capital for the trip of a lifetime.
Buffalo-Niagara Honor Flight takes veterans on all-expenses-paid trips to Washington, D.C. throughout the year to see the memorials built to commemorate their courage. News 4 anchor Jordan Norkus and photojournalist Allison Staebell had the special privilege of joining them on Mission 19.
“They’re building that camaraderie again, they’re exchanging stories and it’s quite an emotional thing to see when these guys are talking,” said Buffalo-Niagara Honor Flight president Tom Petrie. “They’ve just met each other and they’re like old friends.”
“It’s so grand to be with my veteran friends. I made a lot of pals here,” said Navy veteran Timothy Trost. “No matter what branch you’re in, everyone has their great stories and that’s the most fun. We’re a big club.”
Chance discovery turns into treasured friendship for 2 Utah Honor Flight vets
KSL.com
Mike Anderson
SALT LAKE CITY — Over 70 Utah veterans are in Washington, D.C., for the 50th Utah Honor Flight.
When a unique group of individuals comes together like this, it means that some special stories and friendships develop while visiting historic sites.
“The first Black general?” Jim Hayes asked Merrill Wells, referring to a general they knew while serving.
“Yes,” Wells responded.
“In the United States Army,” Hayes said.
The two veterans were at one of the many historical sites in Washington and talked about how they knew the same people while serving in the Vietnam War, like General Benjamin O. Davis.