PLEASE BE SURE THAT ALL WORLD WAR TWO VETERANS WHO ARE IN YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY ARE AWARE OF THE HONOR FLIGHT OPPORTUNITY AT LOCATIONS ACROSS THIS NATION
I am pleased to see the several recent news articles on Honorflightfayette that have appeared in the local newspapers. We need all the publicity we can get to be sure that all WWII Vets are aware of this program to send all WWII Vets in Fayette County to see their Memorial. We also need these articles to encourage donations to make these trips possible.
I also want to encourage all of you who have friends, neighbors and relatives who are WWII Vets but live in other areas to be aware that there may be local chapters of Honor Flight available to them. Just go to www.honorflight.org to view all the communities that have a chapter operating near their domiciles.
Since I last wrote on this subject, VFW Post 9949 held a member recruiting Saturday on Feb.02 in front of the Kroger Store in Kedron. We had collection jars available for patrons to contribute to Honorflightfayette. Thanks to all who contributed the $1053.00 that we collected. These funds have been forwarded to Honor Flight. Previously we sent a check for $2100.00 to Honor Flight from funds we held in our Veterans Relief Fund. The money in this account was collected from patrons during our semiannual Buddy Poppy distributions. These funds may only be expended for the relief and benefit of Veterans, their wives, widows, children or orphans - I can think of no more worthy cause that sending these heroes to see their Memorial.
As a result of the efforts of VFW Post 9949 members to encourage and facilitate the applications of local WWII Vets to travel on an honor flight, the Post signed up two new members and transferred two VFW members from other VFW Posts. We now have 42 WWII Vets who are members of VFW Post 9949. From these 42 it appears that 21 will go on an honor flight. Because some have medical procedures and others were a little slow in getting in their applications, I expect we will have 15 to 16 on the first flight. I did a phone survey of Post 9949 WWII Vets and encouraged them to get in an application and plan on going. A couple indicated they had no infirmities that would prevent them from going but felt the 15 to 16 hours would be just too tiring so they plan not to go. I hope they will both change their minds and go. To that end I have assembled a You Tube play list of video clips on other groups who have made the trip to Washington (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3103CB46A8C5E5C0 ). The first two plays are clips from National TV News programs.The first is from ABC Evening News on the founder of Honor Flights and the second one is from a CBS Sunday Morning Show on the Honor Flight Program. There is also a clip from the first trip from Valdosta Georgia so you see some of our fellow Georgian WWII Heroes react to their visit. You'll hear some phrases like "Last Harrah" "Heroes Welcome" and most importantly "Thank You". For those of you who think the trip is too tiring look at the smiles on the faces of these returning heroes after their long day and the new bounce in their steps as they are invigorated by the day they have enjoyed - no, it wasn't not too long a day for these happy heroes. In the first clip you'll hear that one WWII hero made the trip at the ripe old age of 102!!. I hope I'll see a lot of my fellow WWII Veterans in Fayette County on the first honor flight with me on May 14, 2008
Bob Konrad
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