Honor Flight of the Quad Cities will take off on its 60th flight to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 17, with 82 area veterans to visit the memorials built in their honor.
The flight is sponsored by the Hy-Vee stores of the Quad Cities, North Scott, and Clinton, Iowa.
This flight will carry among its heroes, three female veterans who served during the Vietnam War.
This marks the 14th time that Hy-Vee has sponsored an Honor Flight. The local Hy-Vee stores, and their sponsors, have contributed more than $700,000 to Honor Flight of the Quad Cities.
Debbie Geisler, an Honor Flight Board member and the marketing and communications manager for the Quad Cities’ Hy-Vee stores, will serve as the commander of flight #60. She will be joined by Rhiannon Ill, who will assist her as the deputy flight commander.
The three buses that will transport veterans through the nation’s capital each will have a trained bus captains on board. The veterans will be accompanied by more than 70 trained volunteer “guardians” (many of whom will be Hy-Vee employees). Their role is to assist the veterans throughout the day, and perhaps hear a good story or two.
The Honor Flight will return about 10 p.m., Sept. 17, to the Quad Cities International Airport. The public is invited and urged to come to the airport about 9:30 p.m. and give the Honor Flight veterans a warm reception and welcome home. Parking at the airport will be free.
Any veteran with a year of honorable, non-training, active duty before 1976 is urged to fill out an application for a future Honor Flight and send it (along with a DD214) to Honor Flight c/o Ridgecrest Village, 4130 Northwest Blvd., Davenport, IA 52806.
Those interested in participating on a flight as a guardian should fill out a special “guardian application” as well. All applications are available at www.honorflightqc.org or at [email protected].
