Franklin County Honor Flight, Inc.

In November 2007, some concerned Franklin County citizens recognized that our local World War II veterans needed help if they were going to make a trip to Washington, D.C. and enjoy visiting their war memorials. With a little probing, it became painfully clear that traveling to Washington, D.C. was an impossible dream for many WWII veterans on tiny fixed incomes and requiring the use of a wheelchair. The issue can be summed up in the words of one veteran: "Pay for a trip to Washington, D.C.?! That's a pipe-dream for those of us veterans who must choose between paying for medication or groceries. And who would push our wheelchairs?"
The result was that an experimental inaugural trip in 2007 escorted seven WWII veterans to D.C., Franklin County Honor Flight was quickly formed as a non-profit hub-the first hub west of the Mississippi River-and today, fourteen years later, FCHF volunteers have escorted over 2000 veterans in over sixty trips, with honored veterans now included from both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. These trips-which include meals, airfare, a luxury touring coach, and much more, are carefree and all-free for veterans with their escorts ("Guardians") paying their own expenses.
Testimonies abound, but they can all be represented by the words of the late Bill Bragg who was one of only three WWII Marines out of a platoon who survived charging an Iwo Jima hill. Bill's Honor Flight trip was 63 years after he returned from the war, and he tearfully said when he stepped off the plane in St. Louis, "Until today, I didn't think anyone cared."
Do you know a war veteran who would enjoy one of these trips?
Franklin County Honor Flight has no paid staff, receives no federal or state funding, and relies 100 percent on donations from individuals and businesses like you.