Honor Flight Rochester Welcomes Home First Mission of 2015
Mission 40 Touches Down Sunday, May 3
Flag-waving family members, friends and well-wishers are expected to crowd the Greater Rochester International Airport this Sunday, May 3 to welcome home their heroes on Honor Flight Rochester’s Mission 40. This is the first of six Honor Flights for the 2015 season. We anticipate the veterans to start coming through to the crowd between 11:30 – 11:45 a.m. A private reception for the veterans follows the public welcome home celebration.
There are 47 men veterans slated to fly on Mission 40. There are 16 World War II veterans, 28 Korean War (1950-53) veterans; two Vietnam War veterans and one veteran who served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. The veterans served in the U.S. Army (19), the U.S. Navy (11), the U.S. Marine Corps (7), the U.S. Coast Guard (1), the U.S. Army Air Corps/Forces (3), and the U.S. Air Force (6).
Prior to Mission 40, Honor Flight Rochester has escorted 1,807 veterans from the Greater Rochester area on an Honor Flight from Rochester, NY.
DATE: Sunday, May 3, 2015.
PUBLIC WELCOME CELEBRATION: Approximately between 11:30 – 11:45 a.m.
PRIVATE RECEPTION: A private reception for the veterans follows the public welcome home celebration.
FLIGHT: Southwest Airlines Flight #579.
SCHEDULE FLIGHT ARRIVAL TIME: 11:20 a.m. (Sunday, May 3).
WHERE: Greater Rochester International Airport.
EMCEE: Maureen McGuire, WROC-TV 8.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Medal of Honor Recipient and Rochester native Gary Biekirch, Vietnam War veteran.
COLOR GUARD: U.S. Naval Reserve.
MUSIC: Kelley’s Heroes Marching Band.
HONOR GUARD: Patriot Guard Riders (pgrny.org).
DEPARTURE: Saturday, May 2, 2015 – Honor Flight Rochester Mission 40 departs the Greater Rochester International Airport at 6:30 a.m. The veterans and their guardians begin arriving at 4 a.m.
Honor Flight Rochester (www.honorflightrochester.org) – one of 135 established hubs in 42 states the national Honor Flight Network – is a not-for-profit, fully-volunteer organization with a goal of taking every World War II, Korean War, or Vietnam War veteran from the Greater Rochester area who otherwise would or could not go, to visit and reflect together at Washington D.C. Memorials built in their honor. The two-day trip is free to all World War II, Korean or Vietnam veterans and to veterans of any era who suffer a terminal illness. Rochester’s flying season is April to October. To date, more than 1,807 veterans have now flown from the Greater Rochester area since the local organization began full scale flights in early 2009.
