Veteran’s Honor Flights

By Dave Clark, ACA Life Member

I was recently selected for and went on an HONOR FLIGHT to Washington DC from Seattle, WA, along with 57 veterans including a WW II Veteran, 7 Korea War Veterans, and the rest Vietnam Veterans. What is an Honor Flight? An Honor Flight is conducted by non-profit organizations dedicated to transporting as many United States military veterans as possible to see the memorials in Washington DC at no cost to the veterans.

Alaska Airlines has specially painted planes for the occasion and donates flights and crews. Other airlines also donate planes and crews from different parts of the country. Buses, Hotels and food are all donated. The memorials we saw were the WW II, Korean, Vietnam, Lincoln, FDR, Navy Museum, Women’s memorial, Marine’s, Air Force memorial, Arlington’s tomb of unknown Solider, and changing of the Guard.

Some Honor flights are done in 1-day, others take 2 days. It all depends what area of the country you’re leaving from. Veterans may be required to have a guardian. The guardian is there to assist the veteran during the tours. There are many people who sign up to be guardians for veterans if he or she needs one. My nephew was a guardian for me.

These Honor Flights are amazing. What caught me off guard were the emotions I thought were long gone. I highly recommend that all eligible veterans sign up for an HONOR FLIGHT. YOU DESERVE IT. Contact the Honor Flight Group for your area and fill an application. There are no federal dollars funding these flights, it’s all done by donations.

Consider donating to the Air Commando Association to support our war fighters. Every donation counts!