Honor Flight at Home to honor Marion area veterans on June 10
Area military veterans and their families are invited to attend the 2023 edition of Honor Flight at Home, which is scheduled for Saturday, June 10 at Tri-Rivers Career Center in Marion. Event Coordinator Margie Saull encourages veterans to register for the event by May 20.
Honor Flight at Home, Saull said, is designed to recognize and honor any veteran who served on active duty from 1941 to 1975, but who cannot travel to Washington on the traditional Honor Flight trips that take veterans of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars to the various memorials in the nation's capital.
The Marion event is a subsidiary of the Honor Flight Columbus organization. It's the only Honor Flight at Home program in the state of Ohio, Saull said.
Saull, whose father is a World War II veteran, spearheaded the effort to make Honor Flight at Home a reality in Marion and the first program was held in 2018.
Saull said through Honor Flight at Home she is committed to offering a positive experience for those veterans who are not able to make the trip to the nation's capital. She said the comradery veterans experience with each other during the Honor Flights to Washington as well as the Honor Flight at Home events provides a lasting memory.
"We took my dad to an Honor Flight at Home in Florida and the veterans were very responsive and it was a wonderful afternoon," she said. "So, I decided to come back to Marion and start one here. I worked with Honor Flight Columbus for about a year to convince them that there was a need here in Marion. It's not just open to Marion County folks. If you're able to travel about an hour or two to get to Marion, you're welcome to come."
Saull said 32 veterans attended the first event in Marion followed up by 27 attending in 2019 and 17 last year. The event was canceled for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saull said the Marion event is open to veterans from surrounding counties and around the region, not just Marion County veterans. She said the goal is to honor as many veterans as possible and not limit the event to just one community.
This year's program will once again be held at Tri-Rivers Career Center, 2222 Marion-Mount Gilead Road. It's scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on June 10. Check-in for veterans attending will begin at 1 p.m.
Veterans or their families interested in attending an Honor Flight at Home event in Marion should contact Margie Saull by email at saullgw4@yahoo.com or by telephone at 740-360-8902. Application forms must be filled out and returned to her by May 20.
Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Honor Flight at Home to honor Marion area veterans on June 10
