Honor Flight Rochester Welcomes Home Mission 45 on Sunday October 25
Honor Flight Rochester’s Mission 45 includes men and women veterans who served their country in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. There are three veterans who served in World War II and Korea and one veteran who served in World War II, Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The mission also includes a veteran from the Royal Canadian Air Force.
When Mission 45 returns home Sunday, Oct. 25, Honor Flight Rochester will have escorted 2,121 veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War to Washington, D.C. This is the final mission of 2015. Honor Flight Rochester resumes Honor Flights in the spring of 2016.
There are 54 (49 men and five woman) veterans slated to fly on Mission 45. Included among the ranks are 13 World War II veterans and 37 Korean War (1950-53); three WWII/Korean War veterans and one veteran who served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. The veterans served in the U.S. Army (30), the U.S. Navy (12), the U.S. Marine Corps (5), U.S. Army Air Corps/Forces (6) and one who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
View our past Mission photos at: www.honorflightrochester.shutterfly.com
Shutterfly photos from Mission 45 should be uploaded by Wednesday after the flight for all veterans and families to view.
DEPARTURE: Saturday, October 24, 2015 – Honor Flight Rochester Mission 45 departs the Greater Rochester International Airport at 6:30 a.m. The veterans and their guardians begin arriving at 4 a.m.
WELCOME HOME 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.
FLIGHT HOME: Southwest Airlines Flight #2840
SCHEDULE FLIGHT ARRIVAL TIME: 11:20 a.m. (Sunday, October 25).
PUBLIC WELCOME CELEBRATION: Approximately 11:30 – 11:45 a.m.
EMCEE: Adam Chodak, WROC-TV 8 News Anchor
COLOR GUARD: ROTC Cadets.
MUSIC: Prime Time Brass, Arnie Rychliki.
HONOR GUARD: Patriot Guard Riders (pgrny.org).
Guest Speaker: Brian Mitchell, Commander, Monroe County American Legion
Brian Mitchell enlisted in the US Air Force in 1966 and completed basic and aircraft maintenance training at Amarillo Air Force Base. Upon graduation, he was transferred to the 12th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa and assigned to the F-105 Thunder Chief aircraft.
In 1970, Brian completed his enlistment at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas as a Staff Sergeant assigned to the 419th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron where he trained pilots for combat over North Vietnam. He is a 40-year member of the Monroe County American Legion.
He has been married to his wife, Teresa, for 46 years. They have two children and four grandchildren.
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, 2067 veterans have now flown from the Greater Rochester area since the local organization began full scale flights in early 2009.
