Mission Details

• DEPARTURE: October 26 at 6:10 AM, ROC Airport
• WELCOME HOME: Sunday, October 27, 2024
• AIRPORT CELEBRATION: Between 12:30 and 1:45 PM
• FLIGHT INFO: Arrival 11:55 AM October 27th on Southwest Airlines Flight #100 at ROC Airport

Welcome Home Lineup

• EMCEE: Stacey Pensgen – Meteorologist, News 10NBC WHEC-TV
• KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Colonel Robert Nye, President Finger Lakes Community College
• ANTHEM SINGER: Jerry Bartholomew, Soloist trained at Eastman
• BAND: Prime Time Brass
• COLOR GUARD: West Webster Fire Department

Honor Flight Rochester (HFR) is very pleased to announce that Mission 87 will fly the weekend of October 26-27. This will be the sixth and final mission for this year. Flights will resume in May 2025.

HFR Missions provide local veterans with what has been described as the “Trip of a lifetime.” Veteran applications never expire, and their position on the Fly List advances with each flown mission. Sixty-one veterans will fly on Mission 87, including 1 Korean War veteran, 6 Cold War veterans, 4 Cold War/Vietnam War veterans, and 50 Vietnam War veterans. Their branches of service are: Army (29), Navy (16), Air Force (13), and Marines (3).

After our last mission, a flown veteran wrote:
“WOW! Words escape me… I purposively went without preconceptions I wished this experience to be spontaneous… You welcomed we veterans with ‘Open arms,’ enthusiasm, sincerity warmth and genuineness. I almost immediately felt comfortable and said to myself, this is going to be an awesome experience… With warmest regards & respect and yes, THANKS!!”

Since 2008, including Mission 87, HFR will have flown 4,415 veterans. These flights are funded entirely through the generosity of our community, including individuals, organizations, corporations, hundreds of volunteers, and testamentary bequests.