SYLW: Ozarks Honor Flight
World War II has always been an era that has been close to my heart….I just feel so passionately about it and want to learn everything I can about that time in history. There are so many heroes, so many men and women who served our country both here at home and overseas, some giving the ultimate sacrifice. Having an uncle who served as a tail-gunner in a bomber plane and another uncle who heroically served as a medic, crossing the Mosell and Saar Rivers under fire, in order to save lives, I long to tell their story and hear other stories, so that those same stories can be passed down from generation to generation.
That’s one reason I’m really excited about this next organization, Ozarks Honor Flight. Ozarks Honor Flight is a regional part of the national organization, Honor Flight Network.
Ozarks Honor Flight was started in 2009, as a non-profit organization in Springfield, MO. Their goal is to transport our veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit their memorials. Since the World War II memorial was just founded in 2004, many of these veterans have not had a chance to travel, in their lifetime, to see their own memorial. Right now, Ozarks Honor Flight is focusing on veterans from World War II, since it is estimated that 1,000 of our WWII veterans are dying every single day.  This trip is a one day trip at no cost to the veterans. Many of them want to go see the memorial for themselves or even for the sake of fallen comrades, to honor their memory and their ultimate gift to our country. Later on, Ozarks Honor Flight will begin to transport veterans from the Korean War and Vietnam.
You can help these veterans to make this trip either by donation or by volunteering. If you volunteer, you might help to send off these veterans in the morning or welcome them back home with much celebration. You might help out in the office taking phone calls or prepping things to mail. You might even help by contacting these veterans and helping them to make the necessary arrangements. If you are interested in volunteering, you can contact the Volunteer Coordinator, debbieh@ozarkshonorflight.com.
Either way, our veterans deserve the utmost respect, admiration, and honor for the ways in which they have served. If you’d like to find out if there’s an Honor Flight Network near you, check out the Honor Flight Network website.
