WWII ‘Honor Flight’ to D.C. set to depart
Bend Heroes Foundation and its Honor Flight hubs in Bend and Portland will honor 50 more WWII veterans Sept. 17-21 with a free four-day trip to Washington, D.C. to visit their national WWII Memorial and 10 other veterans memorials. Fourteen of the 50 WWII heroes call Central Oregon home.
This will be the foundation’s 10 th Honor Flight trip, raising its four-year total to 404 WWII Heroes from northwest Oregon and Central/Eastern Oregon honored with their well deserved “trip of a lifetime.” Their average age is 90.
The veterans will be escorted by guardians to ensure their safety and enjoyment.
The four-ay trip kicks off at 5:30 pm on Sept. 17 with a banquet at the Portland Shilo Inn Suites Hotel 11707 NE Airport Way. Shilo Inns founder and owner Mark Hemstreet is again donating the dinners and overnight accommodations to the veterans, and Southwest Airlines is donating their round trip air fares.
The group of 105 veterans, guardians, trip leaders and medical staff departs Portland Airport (PDX) on Southwest Airlines flight 203 at 6:30 am on Sept. 18. They will visit the WWII Memorial, the Capitol and Navy Memorial on Sept. 19. On Sept. 20 the group visits these memorials: Lincoln, Korean War, Vietnam War, FDR, Air Force, Iwo Jima, Women in Military Service for America Museum and changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns and laying an Honor Flight wreath there.
They return to a grand hero’s welcome at PDX on Southwest flight 4141 at 10:20 am, Sunday, Sept. 21. The trip ends at about 11:30 am at the Shilo Inns where it began. The veterans will receive “Quilts of Valor” quilts and “Operation Gratitude” care packages at the Shilo before leaving for home.
With 94% of our nation’s 16.1 million WWII veterans having passed away, time is of the essence to thank and honor our WWII Veterans for their service and sacrifice 7 decades ago protecting our precious freedoms.
The trip will be led by Erik Tobiason, President of Bend Heroes Foundation and Pamela Kelsay, Administrator of Honor Flight of Portland Oregon.
The Foundation’s 11 th Honor Flight trip will be scheduled for May, 2015.
Bend Heroes Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt organization. Donations are tax deductible.
