Around 35 military veterans and their guardians will participate in a send-off for their Owensboro Honor Flight Tuesday afternoon, after which they will fly to Washington, D.C. from Louisville to visit the war memorials that honor their sacrifice. This large number of veterans makes up the biggest Owensboro honor flight in recent history.
The send-off will be held at the Owensboro Sportscenter on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at noon, while a return ceremony will be held Thursday, Oct. 17 at 11 a.m. at the National Guard Armory, located at 3300 Tamarack Road.
The 35 veterans participating in this honor flight fought during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The reason this group is bigger than those in years’ past is because more Vietnam War veterans are able to fly to D.C., thanks, in large part, to a $25,000 donation made by Old National Bank of Owensboro.
“This is by far the largest group we’ve had,” said Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain. “We originally started out with World War II vets and, unfortunately, we’re losing a lot of those veterans. During our last flight in June of last year, we focused on Korean vets. This time, we had a lot of Vietnam vets who wanted to go.”
In years past, Cain said Vietnam War veterans who wanted to participate in the honor flights would be bumped to the top of the list if they suffered from terminal illnesses. Cain said officials noticed they’d acquired a backlog of Vietnam veterans who signed up to fly.
“Old National Bank wanted to sponsor this flight,” Cain said. “Because of that $25,000, we were able to catch up on our entire backlog. Otherwise, it would’ve taken us two to three years to get them on a flight.”
This honor flight was also made possible through the fundraising efforts of the Amvets Ladies Auxiliary Post 119 and other veterans organizations across the community, who raised enough money to send the veterans to Louisville on GRITS busses after the company lost their annual grant to transport the veterans to their flight.
“The VFW, American Legion and ourselves raised the money to pay for the busses because GRITS had lost their scholarship to take them,” said VFW President of the Auxiliary Jessie Hettinger. “We raised $900 to pay for the GRITS bus. Then we raised another $1,649.58.”
Hettinger said it’s imperative that vets are able to travel via GRITS busses because they provide one of the only methods of transportation that’s both wheelchair-accessible and able to transport those on oxygen tanks.
“We’re trying to help them get a grant to cover the GRITS bus next year,” she said. “It has to be written a certain way. That way, they won’t have to pay out of pocket. We’re crossing our fingers they get the grant so they won’t have to go through this again next year.”
Cain said anyone and everyone is encouraged to come out and wish the veterans well as they depart for their honor flight on Tuesday.
“We always like to see a big send-off and a big turnout,” Cain said. “Our vets love the community support they receive here locally.”
