Honor Flight Rochester Welcomes Home Mission 43 on Sunday September 13
Our U.S. veterans have a special bond with one another that stretches across generations and the conflicts in which they fought to preserve our freedoms. This bond is evident in Honor Flight Rochester’s Mission 43. The veterans flying on this Honor Flight comprise veterans from all of the armed services that fought in World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War.
Honor Flight Rochester’s Mission 43 arrives home Sunday Sept. 13 at the Greater Rochester International Airport aboard Southwest Flight 2890 at approximately 11:20 a.m. Veterans are expected to be honored at a public ceremony between 11:30 and 11:45 a.m. A private ceremony follows for veterans and their family members.
Of the 55 veterans on Honor Flight Rochester Mission 43, nine served in World War II; 42 in the 1950-53 Korean War; and one veteran who served in both Korea and the Cold War; two veterans who served in both Korea and Vietnam and one Vietnam War veteran. Of those, 28 served in the U.S. Army; 15 in the U.S. Navy, six in the U.S. Air Force; three Marines; one in the U.S. Army Air Corp (WWII); one U.S. Coast Guard veteran; and one veteran who service in both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force.
This is the fourth of six missions for Honor Flight Rochester’s 2015 season. Honor Flight Rochester’s next two missions are: Mission 44 Saturday/Sunday, Sept. 26 and 27; and Mission 45, Saturday/Sunday, Oct. 24 and 25. Prior to Mission 43, Honor Flight Rochester has escorted 1,960 Greater Rochester-area veterans on a two-day Honor Flight.
PRIVATE RECEPTION: The veterans are expected to come through the welcome home throng between 11:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. A private reception follows in the International Room for veterans and their families.
DEPARTURE: Saturday, September 12, 2015 – Honor Flight Rochester Mission 43 departs the Greater Rochester International Airport at 6:30 a.m. The veterans and their guardians begin arriving at 4 a.m.
FLIGHT HOME: Southwest Airlines Flight #2890
SCHEDULE FLIGHT ARRIVAL TIME: 11:20 a.m. (Sunday, September 13).
PUBLIC WELCOME CELEBRATION: Approximately 11:30 – 11:45 a.m.
EMCEE: 13WHAM-TV Don Alhart
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: General Norbert Rappl
COLOR GUARD: Vietnam Veterans Chapter 20.
MUSIC: Pittsford Fire Department Band.
HONOR GUARD: Patriot Guard Riders (pgrny.org).
Maj. General (USAR) Norbert Rappl
Maj. General Norbert Rappl (U.S. Army Rev.) was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant of Artillery from St. Bonaventure University ROTC. He served on active duty from 1952-1954; in Korea 1953-1954; and the Army Reserve 1954-1987. He was Commander of the 98th Division from 1982-1987. He attended Aquinas Institute, Rochester.
General Rappl achieved the highest rank a Reservist can attain. He is a Graduate of the Army War College, the Harvard Executive Security Program and National War College Defense Strategy Program. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal – highest peacetime award – Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Army Commendation Medal, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and the New York State Distinguished Service Medal.
He was inducted into the St. Bonaventure University Hall of Fame, received the Rochester Builders Exchange Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a National Concrete Masonry Association Honorary Member, Order of St. Barbara, Army Reserve Ambassador, Lifespan Eli Rudin Second Half Hero Award, New York State Concrete Masonry Association Lifetime Achievement Award and the Rochester Builders Exchange Lifetime Achievement Award.
