Posted: 1:48 PM
- OCTOBER FLIGHT PLANNED
MISSISSIPPI HONOR FLIGHT PROGRAM ANNOUNCES
FINAL MISSION TO THE WWII MEMORIAL
MS Gulf Coast Honor Flight* has announced the date for its fall/2013
flight to honor Mississippi’s WWII Veterans with a visit to the WWII
Memorial in Washington, DC.
Honor Flight VI will depart from Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport on
Tuesday October 1, 2013. This will be the group’s final flight.
Beginning with its inaugural flight in May, 2011, MGCHF has made five
trips, and taken 431 veterans to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington,
D.C. The October flight will fulfill the group’s original goal of six
flights and honoring at least 500 veterans with the free trip to see their
memorial.
The one-day free trip also takes the veterans to other sites including the
Lincoln, Korean and Vietnam Memorials, and the Iwo Jima Monument. An
emotionally moving visit to Arlington National Cemetery and The Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier concludes the tour with a viewing of the Changing of the
Guard and a wreath-laying by Mississippi veterans.
The public is asked to help spread word to WWII veterans across the state.
Applications are now being accepted and WWII veterans from anywhere in
Mississippi are urged to apply. Additional information and applications are
available online at the organization’s website, www.mgchonorflight.org or
by mail to P.O. Box 1912 Gautier, MS 39553. Churches, veterans’
organizations, friends and family members of Mississippi’s WWII veterans
are encouraged to help get information and applications to the veterans.
Fundraising is also underway toward the roughly $90,000 needed for the
event which includes a chartered plane, rental of tour buses and tour
guides in Washington, meals and supplies, shirts and hats and other
souvenir items and pre-flight orientation for each veteran. For the entire
trip, everything is provided absolutely free of charge to the honored
veterans. According to spokesperson Wayne Lennep, it is truly a
well-deserved “day of honor and appreciation” for our heroes of the
“Greatest Generation” and every effort is made to show the veterans our
utmost gratitude and give them an experience they will never forget.”
The group also hopes to raise enough funding to provide the veterans and
their spouses from all six flights with memorable, final “Grand Reunion
Gala” in November. The venue for the event is still undetermined but plans
are underway for dinner program with video and slideshow presentations of
the veterans from all flights along with a memorial video and remembrance
of those who have passed away since the program began. There also plans
for a WWII era canteen-style dinner show with entertainment provided by
WINGS Performing Arts of the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center. 700 to 1000
people are expected to attend. Monies raised will allow for the event will
be free to the WWII veterans and their spouse or guest. According to
Lennep, it will be a fitting final “Thank you” from the people of
Mississippi to our WWII heroes.
MGC Honor Flight is a nonprofit program sponsored in partnership with
Kiwanis Division 14 Foundation. Donations may be mailed to MGC Honor Flight
Program c/o Kiwanis Division 14 Foundation 2000 24th Avenue, Gulfport, MS
39501. Contributions to the MGC Honor Flight program will be received and
administered by the Kiwanis Foundation and will be dedicated solely to the
Honor Flight program. Additional information about corporate sponsorships
is also available online at www.mgchonorflight.org
A joint statement from the Board members of MS Gulf Coast Honor Flight: “We
would like to express our sincere appreciation to the good people of
Mississippi for the generosity they have shown by supporting this program
to honor our WWII veterans over the past two and a half years. We ask for
your continuing support for this one last mission to- as we have said of
previous flights, help re-write this final chapter of the lives of our WWII
veterans. The Greatest Generation deserves nothing less!”
