| The official
Honor Flight program was conceived by Earl Morse, a physician
assistant and retired Air Force Captain to honor veterans he had the
privilege of treating for over twenty-seven years. After
retiring in 1998, he was employed by the Department of Veterans
Affairs and worked in a small Springfield, OH clinic. When the
World War II Memorial was finally completed and dedicated, it
quickly became a coffee shop topic of discussion. He inquired
of his patients if they would be interested in visiting THEIR
memorial. Some wanted to go if their family or a friend would
help take them, but many had limited finances and the journey would
also be physically taxing. Most had given up hope of ever
seeing the only monument specifically created to honor their
services and of their service comrades, especially those who paid
the ultimate sacrifice. It needed to be done quickly because
our World War II Veterans were dying at the rate of 1,200 per day.
Earl was a
pilot with connections at nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
In 2004 he arranged to fly one of his patients free of
charge to visit the memorial. Then another. He began
enlisting other pilots to help him and in early 2005 he and others
met and outlined the program. First of all, the veterans would
pay nothing, and they would have escorts during their visit. From that meeting, eleven pilots
signed on and Honor Flight was born.
The local
chapter, started by Don Niehart, is a not-for-profit Illinois
corporation and has applied for 501c(3) status with the federal
government. They have begun to meet with local civic groups
and are gathering names through the VFW, American Legion and other
organizations in downstate Illinois and have already been contacted
by veterans from Springfield to Sesser. They will primarily
fly out of St. Louis, utilizing commercial airlines.
One guardian will
be
required for each veteran that requires assistance with a cane,
walker or wheelchair. For those veterans who are mobile and
can walk without assistance, one guardian will be assigned to groups
of three veterans. Each
volunteer guardian pays his or her own way while the veteran travels
free including transportation for the daylong journey commencing at
4:00am and ending at 9:30pm. Representatives of Honor Flight
meet the veterans and participate in a 1-2 hour ceremony at the World War II
Memorial. Following the ceremony, the group may visit other
memorials, monuments or sites, depending on pre-determined
schedules. |
