May 21, 2017 – On the evening of Saturday, June 3rd, the public will have the privileged opportunity to welcome twenty-four local heroes who served our great Nation in WWll and Korea when they will be returning home from their Honor Flight to Washington D.C. to view and reflect at their Memorials. Our group of Honorees includes twelve members of our “greatest generation” who sacrificed to defend our freedoms at the most pivotal time in US History. We are also proud to pay tribute to twelve Honorees that defended the world from the spread of communism  during the Korean conflict.

All of our neighbors in Central Florida owe it to these humble heroes to recognize their actions and sacrifices, made for all of us to secure the liberty we enjoy today. “Freedom is not Free” and we all should acknowledge and pay tribute to those who paid and witnessed the cost.

Our youngest Veteran Honoree is 83 and our most Senior will be turning 100 years old this coming August. They proudly served our country in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Army Air Force throughout the world. Two of our Honorees are women, one that served as an original “WAVE”, one who suffered the brutality of the Japanese enemy as a POW in 9 different East Indies prison camps during WWll.

Seldom is such a group assembled in the same place at the same time, so we hope you will join us in an incredible opportunity to provide them the hero’s welcome and your personal thanks that they so the rightly deserve. For many, this Honor Flight is taking place during the closing chapter of their lives, for some, the during final paragraph.

The patriotic public will play a very important part in the honoring of these genuine heroes by assembling in Orlando International Airport (MCO) at 8:45PM on June 3 to greet their returning Honor Flight in Terminal A. Our welcoming group should assemble by the Starbucks in Terminal A on the departure level just behind the Southwest Airlines ticketing desk. We are scheduled to arrive at OIA at 8:40PM on Southwest Airlines flight number 5205. We recommend you check with SW after 6:30PM to confirm our on time arrival. Bring your family, bring your friends, bring a flag, and bring your home-made signs to show our Honorees their sacrifices are not forgotten. Check this site and our FB page as we get closer to June 3, for any updates we might have, and please share this post so we have a huge crowd on hand at this very, very, special event.

“Our Veterans have honored us with their service, it’s our time to honor them”

We are excited about our upcoming Honor Flight mission to our nation’s capital in three short weeks, on Saturday June 3rd. Time is running our for us to honor the members of our greatest generation as we are losing them at the rate of 366 each and every day.

Our June 3 Honor Flight will be honoring 24 Central Florida Veterans that served our Nation in WWll, the Korean War and Vietnam conflicts. We’ll be doing our best to see that each is personally honored for their sacrifices on our behalf. Over the next week we will be finalizing plans that include hosting all our Honorees and their Guardians at their Flight Mission Orientation May 20th.

Did you know that family members, friends and even total strangers of our Honorees can play a critical role on Honor Flight Missions by accompanying one of our Hero’s as their personal Honor Flight Guardian? Honor Flight Guardians are Donors who cover their own cost to travel on a Flight Mission and donate their time to meet and accompany our Honorees on their Honor Flight. Nothing could be more rewarding than to be with our Honored Vets and share the stories of their service and the closure and release that many of our Heroes experience. As a Guardian, you will have the first hand opportunity to assure your assigned Veteran has a day full of Honor and Tribute recognizing their service and sacrifice to our Country.

Watch for coming post with more details about participating in the huge welcome home event we are planning for our Heroes Saturday evening June 3 at Orlando International Airport. Everyone has an opportunity to participate in our welcome home events and we endeavor to make each a special close to our Veterans day of Honor. We hope you can be with us to give these very special Heroes the welcome and recognition they never got after their service and sacrifices for all of us. For our 12 Honored WWll Veterans in particular, that welcome home and tribute is 72 years overdue. Please mark your calendar and plan to show them all your personal appreciation by being with us Saturday evening June 3.

We don’t know them all, but we owe them all.

Our first Honor Flight Central Florida Flight Mission for this Saturday, May 6th. We hope the patriotic public of our Central Florida community can join to welcome our Heroes back home after their day of Honor in our Capital. We are scheduled to arrive at Orlando International on Jet Blue Flight # 1023 due in at 8:11 pm. Please come out to show your thanks to our Senior Veterans who served and sacrificed for all of us, and give them the welcome home they deserve and never got. Be at Orlando Airport in Terminal A on the arrivals & ticketing level by the security checkpoint entrance to gates 1-59, next to Chilis, Saturday evening May 6th at 8:30 to greet and thank our Veterans personally. We are pleased to be honoring 24 Central Florida Veterans for their service, 17 of whom served in WWll, 6 of whom served in the Korean War and 1 who served our Nation in Vietnam. The vast majority of our Honorees are in their 90s having served in the Army, Army Air Corp,, Navy, Marines and Air Force. We are also pleased to Honor two women that served in World War ll, one as a WAC and one as a WAVE. This is a family event that offers a very special end to a very long day of tribute to our Heroes. Bring signs, flags, and all your family and friends to play your own roles in this special tribute to some very special Veterans who are your neighbors right here in Central Florida! Be sure to check with Jet Blue after 6pm to verify our on time arrival. Watch for Honor Flight staff who will be on site organizing the welcome, and remember, “We can’t all be heroes, some of us have to stand on the curb and clap as they go by”
PLEASE SHARE THIS POST WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

We are always so humbled to hear the eloquence and emotion with which Veterans and their families describe the impact of their Honor Flight Central Florida journey.

The memories of our Honor Flight Guardians, staff, and volunteers are equally powerful. Those of us who had the honor of travelling alongside our Honorees, or greeting them at the airport shared in an experience we will always treasure.

On Tuesday, March 28, at 8 p.m. Eastern time, viewers of CBS-TV’s top-rated prime-time drama, NCIS, will get a glimpse into the world our Honorees experienced and Guardians and Volunteers helped to shape.

NCIS writer Gina Lucita Monreal found her inspiration for the episode in her grandfather-in-law’s Honor Flight experience, and the renewed sense of pride and purpose with which he returned home after his Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. While the episode’s story line is fictional, the deep and meaningful connections established among travelling veterans, and the passion of Honor Flight’s Guardians and volunteers, shine through true and clear.

This unprecedented nationwide exposure provides Honor Flight Central Florida and the Honor Flight Network with an invaluable opportunity to move closer to our goal of personally thanking every Central Florida area WWII, Korean and Vietnam war veteran with his or her long-overdue day of honor. We hope to use it as a catalyst for reaching local veterans who’ve yet to fly with us , while also encouraging the crucial financial and volunteer support needed to further our mission to honor Veterans now and long into the future.

We urge you to tune in to this special episode of NCIS on March 28, and encourage your friends, family, business associates and community connections to do the same.

We are very excited to announce plans for a third Flight Mission in 2017.

On September 16, 2017 we will be providing 50 Central Florida area Honored Veterans with their own Honor Flight – at no cost to them whatsoever.

Watch for updates and additional information here!

We are excited to have a second spring 2017 flight mission to our nation’s capital planned for Saturday June 3rd. The very best way to share our mission with others is by word of mouth. We are giving top priority to WWll Veterans on our 2017 flights, so if you know one that would like to view and reflect at their memorials in Washington DC at no cost to them, direct them to our website or call us at (407) 203-7010 for more information. Time is running our for us to honor the members of our greatest generation as we are losing them at the rate of 366 each and every day.

Family members, friends and even total strangers can play a critical role on Honor Flight Missions by accompanying one of our Hero’s as their personal Honor Flight Guardian. Honor Flight Guardians are Donors who cover their own cost to travel on a Flight Mission and donate their time to meet and accompany our Honorees on their Honor Flight. Nothing could be more rewarding than to be with our Honored Vets and share the stories of their service and possibly the closure and release that many of our Heroes experience. As a Guardian, you will have the first hand opportunity to assure your assigned Veteran has a day full of Honor and Tribute recognizing their service and sacrifice to our Country.

We cannot complete our mission without the generous support of the public.

All donations can support an important part of our flight missions.

For example:

• Your donation of $10 will buy lunch for one of our Honored Veterans
• Your donation of $15 will buy dinner for one of our Honored Veterans
• Your donation of $30 will pay for breakfast, lunch & dinner for one Honored Veterans
• Your donation of $50 will pay for lunch for five of our Honored Veterans
• Your donation of $75 will pay for ten flight bags provided to our Honored Veterans
• Your donation of $100 will pay for three bus seats for our Honored Veterans
• Your donation of $250 will pay for lunch for all our Honored Veterans on a 2017 Flight 
• Your donation of $500 will pay all cost of providing a Veteran with an Honor Flight
• Your donation of $1,000 will pay for Honor Flight T-Shirts for all our Honored Veterans in 2017

Your business can sponsor:

• $750 will pay for Meals for all Honored Veterans on one 2017 Honor Flight Mission 
• $1,000 will pay airfare for four Honored Veterans
• $5,000 will pay the full cost of providing Honor Flights for ten Honored Veterans
• $12,500 will pay the airfare for all the Honored veterans on a 2017 Flight Mission

HONOR FLIGHT CENTRAL FLORIDA IS A 501 C-3 ALL VOLUNTEER CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION. OVER 95% OF THE FUNDS WE RAISE GO DIRECTLY TO PAYING COST ASSOCIATED WITH OUR MISSION OF PROVIDING NO COST HONOR FLIGHTS TO OUR HONOREES.

YOUR DONATION MAY BE TAX DEDUCTIBLE – CHECK WITH YOUR TAX PROFESSIONAL