The next Never Forgotten Honor Flight leaves Central Wisconsin Airport next Monday morning for a day-long journey to Washington, D.C.
13 World War II veterans, 54 Korean War veterans and 28 Vietnam veterans will be joined by 55 guardians.
The Never Forgotten Honor Flight organization flies veterans from Oneida, Vilas, Iron Langlade, Lincoln, Price and six other counties to the nation's capitol to see the memorials for each of the wars and other sites at no charge to veterans.
Co-Founder Jim Campbell says this will be the 25th mission over 7 years. He says they' re going to the Vietnam, Korea and Lincoln Memorials and some new stops...
"....because we have quite a few from Korea and WWII we're going take in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. From there we go to the Marine, Iwo Jima Memorial, then an event the veterans look forward to, the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery...."
After more touring, they take the flight back to Wisconsin.
Campbell says many veterans have a misconception about the flights...
".....many still think, 'I wasn't in combat, I don't qualify'. That is absolutely not the case Only 8 percent of veterans saw combat in all three of those conflicts. 92 percent were in supporting roles...."
To date, 2,194 veterans have taken the flights. Campbell says the next flight is leaving in October with priority going to World War II and Korean War veterans. More information is on the website neverforgottenhonorflight. org
