For those of our viewers who have not heard of the Upper Peninsula Honor Flight (from their webpage), “Our mission is to fly Upper Peninsula Veterans to see the Memorials in Washington DC that stand in their honor. This “Tour of Honor” is FREE to the Veteran. Airfare, meals, deluxe tour bus, t-shirt and other items are provided at NO COST to the Veteran. We are part of the National Honor Flight Network.” These missions are all 100% donation driven and 100% volunteer.

Chad Johnson had the honor of accompanying his Uncle Terry Poirier as his “guardian” this past week on Honor Flight XIX and he snapped these photos of the event. Until last week, I had no real idea of the magnitude of these missions and what it means for our Veterans to experience this event. My husband, Jim was also on the flight, with our youngest son, Al as his “guardian” and our oldest son who is active military in the Navy met them there in Washington DC and spent the day touring the monuments with them (see the fourth photo). They all commented what an awesome experience this trip was and for most it was also healing, as they weren’t always welcomed home and thanked for their service at the time they returned from the wars.

This flight had 81 U.P. Veterans, 5 Korean Veterans and 76 Vietnam Veterans, plus their “guardians” and the volunteers from the Upper Peninsula Honor Flight that make this outstanding event happen. Three of the Veterans were women who served, which was the most women on a flight to date. They were honored in DC with a special awards ceremony. The flight left from Delta County Airport in Escanaba on Wednesday morning and returned that evening to a Welcome Home complete with a band and more people than I could begin to count, all cheering, clapping, shaking hands and thanking the men and women as they came off the plane and through the crowd. Remember... It’s never too late to thank a Veteran for the freedoms we all enjoy.

There were several media outlets along, TV6 (Marquette), WDBC Radio (Escanaba), Floline Media and Jess Groleau, all taking videos and photos for the Veterans to enjoy afterwards. The Welcome Home video here today was recorded by Craig Woerpel from WDBC Radio.

If you’re interested in watching the “live stream” throughout the day, recorded by Nick at Floline Media, you can find those feeds here: Upper Peninsula Honor Flight

These pictures are so great! What an honor
for these men and women. Thanks to all of
them for their service. And thanks to Chad
for sharing these pictures with us. I've
never been to D.C. but it's on my bucket
list for sure.

Honor Flight is a fantastic program.

I have been trying for quite awhile to participate as an Honor Flight guardian. Guardians pay a few hundred dollars to help cover their expenses. But where I live the volunteer rate is (fortunately) so high it has been very difficult to earn a spot.

Thank you for washing my face!

This is so phenomenal. And it's all done with
donations. I've donated in Memory of some Veterans
important to me....So...hint, hint..

How beautiful. Just beautiful.

Really nice well-deserved trip for the Vet's, Donna
I understand your feelings!! I recognize that
handsome man in the white T-shirt in the 4th
pic!!:=)) and the young lady in orange at the 1:03
minute mark of the video!!

WHAT AN HONOR & NICE RECOGNITION! and as Donna
stated, "JUST BEAUTIFUL"!!!

A nice tribute and hands-on effort by all involved.