Honor Flight Rochester, Inc.
P.O. Box 23581
Rochester, NY 14692
Honor Flight Rochester completes Mission 17 this Sunday June 19, as 46 World War II servicemen and women return to the Greater Rochester Monroe County International Airport from their travels to Washington D.C. to visit the national Memorials built in their honor.
Families are urged to be on hand with grandchildren and great-grandchildren to celebrate members of America's Greatest Generation at Honor Flight's version of "Operation Welcome Home."
The Veterans will arrive to a flag-waving heroes' greeting at approximately 12:30 p.m. at the public entrance of Concourse A on the western end of the airport. (Actual ETA for AirTran 943 is 11:50 a.m.) The public is invited to a "welcome home" ceremony and reception that follows immediately in the lower level International Room.
Keynote speaker will be recently-appointed Airport Director Susan L. Walsh Esq. She will be joined by a host of dignitaries, musicians and honor guards, including the Vietnam Color Guard of local Chapter 20 of Vietnam Veterans of America.
The Father's Day theme will feature Patrick Gurnow, a 9th grader at Webster Schroeder High School. Gurnow will read his powerful essay "Why students should remember Pearl Harbor" which placed 3rd in a national competition among America's high schoolers, sponsored by the National WWII Museum (http://www.nationalww2museum.org).
The Veterans left on their Mission as the sun rose Saturday morning, June 18. Their Honor Flight Rochester trip took them to Arlington National Ceremony to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Mid-morning they visited their own WWII Memorial, with stops in the afternoon at the Navy Plaza, the Korean, Vietnam and Lincoln Memorials, the Marine Corps (Iwo Jima) Memorial and the newest Air Force Memorial with a vista of D.C. from high above the Pentagon.
Honor Flight Rochester, Inc. (www.HonorFlightRochester.org) -- one of 100 established hubs in the national Honor flight Network -- is a not-for-profit, fully-volunteer organization with a goal of taking every World War II Veteran who otherwise would or could not go, and who wants to fly to Washington D.C. to visit and reflect together at Memorials built in their honor. The two-day trip is free to all World War II Veterans and to Veterans of any era who suffer a terminal illness. World War II Veterans typically fly in the order their applications are received. Medical priorities are the exception. Rochester's flying season is April to October. Nearly 800 Veterans have flown from Rochester since the local organization began full scale flights in early 2009.
Honor Flight Rochester.
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