Kansas Honor Flight

Specific Need

• To provide funding to send our Kansas WWll, Korea, veterans to Washington to visit the memorials built in honor of their particular service.
• The cost to send one veteran is $900.
• Over 4,000 Kansas Veterans have made the trip..
   

Mission

                                                                             To transport our area Armed Forces Veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit the Memorials that commemorate and honor their service to our country at no cost to the Veteran.  It is our way as a Nation to say "Thank You" to these deserving Patriots.

Profile

The Honor Flight program was conceived by Earl Morse, a physician asstant in the Air Force. After retiring from the service he worked in a small clinic in Springfield, Ohio. In May of 2004, the World War II Memorial was finally completed in Washington, D.C. and quickly became the topic of discussion among his World War II veteran patients. Earl repeatedly asked them if they would ever travel to Washington to visit THEIR memorial. Yes, they said, they would eventually make it to D.C., perhaps with a family member or friend. As summer turned to fall and then winter, these same veterans returned to the clinic for follow up visits. Earl asked if they had accomplished their dream of seeing their Memorial in Washington. But by then reality had settled in for most of the veterans he asked and it was clear that it simply wasn't financially or physically possible for them to make the journey.

In December of 2004, Earl asked one of his veteran patients if it would be all right if Earl personally flew him to D.C. free of charge, to visit his memorial. Mr. Loy broke down and cried. He told Earl that at his age he would probably never get to see his memorial otherwise, and gracisouly accepted the offer. Earl posed the same question to a second World War II veteran a week later. He too cried and enthusiastically accepted the trip. From this humble beginning, the Honor Flight system was born and currently has hubs in 44 states, enabling more than 260,000 veterans  to be honored by our nation for safe guarding the freedoms which we enjoy today.

Our region started the program here in 2015. In addition to providing the trip at no cost to the veteran, when possible, our area also provides free van transportation to the Wichita airport.  Please consider a donation to Kansas Honor Flight for our heroes.