Honor Flight CAK

Many special moments and memories were shared with 109 WWII veterans and 71 guardians on September 18, 2010.  The J.M. Smucker Co. sponsored our flight, providing 30 of their employees as guardians.  This flight had our oldest veteran to date, Mr. Prosser at 98 years young and the youngest guardian, Taylor Hallworth at 14 years old (accompanied by her mother, Kelly).  We had the largest group of women who served- nine total.  We had 17 veterans who were over 90 years of age.   The J.M. Smucker Co provided us with “Uncrustables” for snacks throughout the day.  They were enjoyed by everyone, right Max?

For all the seasoned staff at Honor Flight CAK we would like to wish Dr. Lori Drumm and her husband Mark Leibsla good luck on their new adventure to Iowa.  The Veterans Hospital is getting the best of the best of physicians, and I know the veterans would agree!  You will be greatly missed!  Thank you so much for being a part of our organization!

We will be taking our first full flight of vets this tomorrow, Saturday May 8 to Washington D.C. to see their memorial and many others too.  We will have 114 WWII vets and 68 guardians.  Our two oldest vets are 95!

Click here for a list of names -  you will notice that we take vets from all over our surrounding area.  We have many parent/siblings going as a guardian.

We will leave out of Akron Canton Airport at 0800, arrive at Reagan National at 0910 to a welcome they will always remember!  Many folks volunteer at CAK and DC, just to make this day so special for our WWII vets!  Lots of High Fives go to all the volunteer staff at Honor Flight CAK.  They spend many, many hours to prepare for each trip.

In DC, we will visit the WWII Memorial as well as others (FDR, Iwo Jima, Vietnam, Korean, Lincoln).  We will depart Reagan at 1900 (7:00 pm) and arrive back home at 2017 (8:17 pm).

Please welcome them home at Akron Canton Airport! Cheers and tears, handshakes, flags are part of a welcome you will be glad you attended! As one veteran mentioned on our last trip, “The best part of the trip is the Welcome in DC and the Welcome Home at Akron Canton. The rest is just icing on the cake!”  Let’s do it again this trip!

WWII veterans who served in the Pacific were honored at the WWII Memorial in Washington, DC. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produced HBO’s 10-part series entitled THE PACIFIC and were here to pay tribute. The Honor Flight Network brought the 250 veterans to the nation’s capitol. Marrriott Hotels & Resorts hosted their stay.  Here’s video from the Marriott!

In conjunction with their new mini-series, The Pacific, HBO teamed up with the Honor Flight Network and sponsored their own flight to Washington D.C.!

Our staff worked very hard this summer to get our second flight of the year off the ground and to DC! This time we did not have a tropical storm interrupt our mission. We were not going to let a little Tea Party and a Triathlon stand in our way either! The men and woman veterans shared many stories, made many friends and yes…a few even became “Wedding Crashers”.

I hope to keep posting pictures that are sent my way from those on the flight! Many have questions about the next flight. A date has not been set. I will update the blog monthly to keep everyone informed. Just remember, the flight will be filled by the order that the vets signed up!

As promised, we have a brief video featuring our veterans coming home from our May 30 Honor Flight and the reception at Akron Canton Airport. Click the link below and enjoy!

We had the honor of flying more veterans to Washington D.C. on Saturday, May 30, 2009. Check out some pictures from this great day by clicking here. We will also have video from the day posted soon, so keep checking back often!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this very special day possible!