Huskers to Help with Heartland Honor Flight

Lincoln - In conjunction with the Veterans Day Salute at the Nebraska vs. Kansas football game on Nov. 8, the University of Nebraska Athletic Department is proud to assist with local fundraising efforts to fund additional Heartland Honor Flights for World War II veterans.

Local volunteers and event staff will have appropriately marked buckets outside each gate of Memorial Stadium in Lincoln after the game to collect for the Heartland Honor Flight Program.

The Heartland Honor Flight Program was organized in 2008 by private citizens in cooperation with the Nebraska VFW to transport groups of Nebraska World War II veterans to Washington D.C. for a one-day trip to visit the WWII Memorial built in 2004. Participants will see other sites of interest including: Iwo Jima Memorial, Korean War Memorial, U.S. Air Force Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery with the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a guided bus tour of Washington, D.C.

The flights are provided free of charge to veterans who would not otherwise be able to travel due to poor health, limited financial resources, travel inexperience or emotional reservations. Veterans participating in the Honor Flights find comfort in traveling with their fellow soldiers on this sentimental pilgrimage, along with plenty of volunteer support staff on every trip to provide for their safety, mobility and health.

Time is of the essence in planning future flights as some 1,200 WWII veterans die every day in the United States. The youngest veterans are 80 years of age and the oldest are well into their 90s.

"I wish my father would have been afforded this opportunity before he passed away," said Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne, whose father Charles served in World War II. "Memorial Stadium was built in honor of those who have fought our nation’s wars and we are proud to assist in this effort as part of our Veterans Day Salute."

To date, more than $500,000 has been raised from Nebraska donors to fund the first four trips, which took place on May 21, July 8, Sept. 16 and Oct. 22. A total of 605 Nebraska veterans have participated in these four trips. The next flight is set for Nov. 19. More than 750 Nebraska veterans remain on the waiting list for future flights. Funding has been dramatically assisted with matching challenge grants and other gifts from private organizations and individuals.

The average cost of each flight is $95,000. This cost includes charter air fare, ground transportation and meals. Approximately $610,000 is still needed to fund enough flights to take every Nebraska veteran who wants to participate in the Honor Flight opportunity.

The promotion of the Heartland Honor Flight is one of many salutes that will take place on Saturday during the Veterans Day Salute. Other acknowledgements include:

• The recognition of approximately 25 World War II veterans who are in attendance.
• WWII vets will be joined on the aprons behind the benches by Army Reserve and National Guard Nebraska units who have recently returned from overseas.
• The Cornhusker Marching Band will play a medley of military fight songs as part of its pregame show and all veterans are asked to stand when their song is played.
• The names of those Nebraskans who have died since 9-11 while fighting for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom will be scrolled on the big screens during the national anthem.
• Honorary Gate Sentinels from every branch of the military will be on hand for the Husker Tunnel Walk.
• The Color Guard will also be represented by each branch of service.

More About the Honor Flight Program
The Honor Flight program was founded by Earl Morse, a retired Air Force captain, to honor the veterans he worked with as a physician assistant in Springfield, Ohio. When the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. was completed in May of 2004, Morse began encouraging his veteran patients to visit the site. However, most were unable to make the trip from Ohio to Washington, due to financial and physical constraints.

As a private pilot, Morse offered to personally fly one of his patients to Washington to visit the memorial, free of charge. After a few subsequent flights for additional veteran patients, Morse began to involve his pilot peers in the project. Within a month of his first flight, 11 more pilots had volunteered to help fly and escort Morse’s veteran patients to the memorial, and the Honor Flight project was born.

The project quickly grew to include both private and commercial planes, and by the end of the first year, 137 World War II veterans had visited the memorial in Washington. In the program’s second year, Honor Flight utilized only commercial flights, due to the high demand for transportation and the ability to fly in adverse weather conditions.

The program began to expand nationally in late 2006. The program currently has 69 hubs in 30 states, with a goal of providing a hub in all 50 states to fly 12,000 veterans across the nation by the end of 2008.

Please go to Honorflight.org for more information on the national organization. Please call Bill Williams, Volunteer Coordinator, Heartland Honor Flight at (402) 612-0210 or John Liebsack at the Lincoln VFW at 464-0674 for more information on the local Heartland Honor Flight program.