Great River Honor Flight’s next mission to Washington, D.C., set for Aug. 18

HANNIBAL, Mo. — The Great River Honor Flight’s next mission to Washington, D.C. will be Thursday, Aug. 18.

This will be the 60th mission overall for local veterans since the program started serving the region in 2010. Since then, 1,916 local veterans who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and between those conflicts have participated in this program. Approximately 31 veterans from Illinois (Adams, McDonough, Clinton and Brown counties), Missouri (Marion, Pike, Clark and Ralls counties) and Iowa (Lee) will be part of this return mission.

The departure and return on Aug. 18 will be from Hannibal-LaGrange University. The trip will follow the itinerary used for the past 12 years, which starts with a 2 a.m. departure for a bus ride to Lambert Field in St. Louis, where they will board their flight to Baltimore and then on to Washington, D.C. The expected arrival time back in Hannibal will be around 10:15 p.m.

Great River Honor Flight was started on Veterans Day 2009 with its first flight scheduled on April 13, 2010. Initially, all the veterans were from World War II. It continued that way for several years until it was decided to expand to those veterans who had served during the Korean War. It since has expanded to include veterans from the Vietnam War as well as those who served between those conflicts.

For additional information, contact Carlos Fernandez at csfernandez1951@gmail.com or Great River Honor Flight, P.O. Box 3723 Quincy, IL 62305.