![]() Pam Mow, President of the Indiana Chapter of the Gold Star Mothers, accepts the check. Polly and I gave the remaining balance of all Hoosier Honor Flight funds – including memorial donations in Sarah’s name – to help start the Greater Lafayette Honor Flight hub. I did not want any wasted seats on a chartered 737.ĭonors provided well over $300,000 to Hoosier Honor Flight. I made the decision to open the program to Korean War veterans after all our WWII applicants had been taken or were about to be taken on our last flight. Hoosier Honor Flight ceased operations only after all applicants were flown. All official Honor Flight ‘hubs’ are only recognized by the national Honor Flight organization after meeting stringent standards for safety, financial accountability, and dedication. But we were able to express our gratitude to these gentlemen.Īll Honor Flights are totally free to the customer veterans. Most of the customer veterans on this flight are gone now, as are over 90% of the sixteen million United States WWII veterans. The above photo is of the first HHF upon arrival at the National World War II Memorial. Post 18, VFW Post 604, and other military service organizations and businesses from the area supported HHF with their efforts and financial donations – but the most touching donations were from individuals: buddies of those who did not come home, widows, and regular people who wanted to show gratitude for what these veterans had done.īloomington area World War II Veterans and their guardians pose for a group photo at the entrance to the WWII memorial in Washington, D.C. Without Steve HHF might well have faltered. Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Steve Galvin was ‘co-CEO’ from the second flight forward. Mike Carmin, of Carmin Parker, P.C., incorporated HHF at his own expense. Mike Pate of American Legion Post 18 in Bloomington graciously allowed our donations to be made payable – in accordance with national Honor Flight guidance – to the Legion in order to be tax deductible and to establish a traceable ‘paper trail’. While money from the guardians paid for approximately one third of our expenses, the great majority was from donations. HHF guardians paid either $360 or $400 each (depending on whether on a Southwest or HHF chartered flight, respectively) to work their entire trip. Actually, many of the 141 guardians (helpers) who also traveled to DC to assist the ‘customer’ WWII and Korean War veterans were veterans themselves. ![]() From our first flight on 12 November 2008 through our last on 28 April 2010, HHF took 278 WWII and Korean War veterans to Washington, DC to visit their national war memorials, Arlington National Cemetery, and other meaningful sites. I had the privilege of founding and being the only president of Hoosier Honor Flight, Inc.
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