WWII-Honor-Flight-View-Iwo-Jima

On Thursday, Sep. 12, 2013, a group of 85 WWII veterans departed from Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport to Washington, D.C., on the eleventh Honor Flight from Upstate South Carolina. The group, accompanied by one hundred guardians, doctors, nurses, support staff, and media visited the World War II, Vietnam, Korean and Marine Corps War Memorials.  This flight marked the 300th nationwide for US Airways, the original charter for Honor Flight. Additional highlights for this trip included the largest number of African American veterans and female veterans that HFU has taken to date on any single flight; a guardian who was held captive in Vietnam, and suffered the POW camp as one of the longest-held captives; a WWII veteran who is a retired General and served as a pilot; and multiple stories from each of the honorees that we hope will be told in the weeks ahead to family, friends and congregations.

The U.S. Airway Jet AirBus was on its maiden flight when it left Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Thursday morning with 85 WWII Veterans taking them to Washington, D.C.

On its return flight to Greenville, it had a new crew onboard. A female pilot was at the controls and her grandfather was one of the WWII veterans on the plane.

Shortly after the plane was airborn, a femal voice was heard on the loud speaker, saying “I love you, GrandPa.”

When the veterans arrived back at the FedEx Cargo area, more than 300 well-wishers were lining the fences waving American Flags, and holding signs welcoming the veterans back to Greenville.

Honor Flight Upstate South Carolina is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization that is dedicated to honoring our WWII and Korean War veterans, and the many sacrifices they have made to keep our nation safe and our people free.  Veterans, who have never had the opportunity to see the memorials due to physical or financial limitations, are invited to apply for upcoming flights.  There is no cost to the veteran to participate in this worthwhile program.  It is extremely important to extend this opportunity in a timely manner to all interested veterans as they range in age from the 80’s to over 100 years old.

Many ordinary volunteers from the Upstate have already joined forces with numerous organizations and businesses to make these trips possible.  In addition, the following elected officials are supporting the efforts to take every Upstate World War II and Koran War veteran on an Honor Flight: Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Tim Scott, Rep. Trey Gowdy, Rep. Jeff Duncan, Greenville County Sheriff Steve Loftis, Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper, Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark, and Spartanburg Sheriff Chuck Wright. Multiple Upstate schools, JROTC Units, churches, veteran service organizations, and individuals have held fundraisers to make this flight possible. Major corporate sponsors include Verizon Wireless, Lockheed Martin, Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, Human Technologies, General Electric, The Greenville Hospital System, Benchmark Consulting Inc, Bonitz Contracting Co. Inc, and Hucks Financial Services.

Time has never been shorter for us to say thank you to our WWII and Korean War veterans. HFU is now officially taking Korean War veteran applications for future flights. Funding is needed to make the FIRST Korean War Honor Flight possible. 100% of donations go directly to costs associated with taking a veteran on this experience of a lifetime. For more information on how to get involved, make a donation or apply as a guardian or veteran, visit www.honorflightupstatesc.com or call 864-869-VETS.

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Gilbert Scales contributed to this article.

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