Veteran organization wins award

  • 2013-01-03
Honor Flight Network has recently been presented with the National Aviation Hall of Fame’s 2012 Milton Caniff Spirit of Flight Award. In addition to receiving the award, the nonprofit organization has been made the subject of a new documentary. Although the final numbers have yet to be tallied by Honor Flight, it is believed that the flights for 2012 will have reached 100,000.

The network was launched in 2005, set up to fly war veterans to the National WWII Memorial in Washington DC. The war memorial was opened to the public in 2004 and, following much publicity, received visitors from around the U.S., including local areas like Auburn. However, Honor Flight was set up to help veterans who are financially or physically unable to make the journey to the memorials.

According to the Executive Director of Honor Flight, Diane Gresse, there are 20,000 veterans on the waiting list. The organization can only organize flights when sufficient public donations are made, which means that more donations are required than ever before. Although the organization does not advertise, it may need to consider the flyer printing services of a local Print company to raise sufficient monies. Around half of all veterans who have been flown to the memorial have been in a wheelchair, with many requiring oxygen. The network now has 119 hubs situated in 40 states, with some hubs transporting veterans of the Korean War.

Southwest Airlines is the official commercial carrier, donating almost $3m of airline tickets to the cause.
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