News : Eastern Iowa Honor Flight completes its 51st Flight

Recently 88 Veterans flew out on the 51st Eastern Iowa Honor Flight. Leaving Cedar Rapids early in the morning, the Iowa Veterans arrived to the applause and cheers of hundreds of travelers who were waiting at the Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. The Sun Country jet filled with the veterans and their guardians had been spotted by those waiting for flights in the Reagan terminal building. 

Veterans are each assigned a guardian to help them throughout the day as they visit the various war memorials in Washington D.C. Usually the guardians are family members. 

Eastern Iowa Honor Flights took its first flight in 2009 and has since flown a total of 4,594 veterans accompanied by their guardians to D.C. Each trip is carefully planned for the veterans and designed to memorialize and honor the American Veterans. 

The last flight to D.C. brought Iowa Veterans who were mostly from the Korean and Vietnam Wars. There would have been one WWII veteran scheduled to fly but unfortunately, he had to cancel. 

President of EIHF, Lynette Voss says that it takes about four months to organize a flight using most of the seventy dedicated volunteers. Volunteers are tasked with looking over the hundreds of applications for the flights, then they issue the invitations, plan the send off from the Eastern Iowa Airport. Their work isn't finished there. They also make plans for the day in Washington D.C. so that everything runs like clock work. The planning is only completed when the very last detail is completed, organizing a huge welcome home celebration at the end of a long day for the veterans. 

Eastern Iowa Flight #51 was greeted upon its delayed return by 1,000 people at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids. This flight was named in honor of  Collins Aerospace for its generous support of the Eastern Iowa Honor Flight.

Each of these flights are provided free to all veterans. 

Currently, there are more than 700 applicants waiting for their turn to fly. If you have a veteran that hasn't had the opportunity to take an Honor Flight, fill out the application and get on the waiting list. Priority is given to those with a medical need where time is of the essence.

To find the application, click here!