Upper Peninsula Honor Flight prepares for takeoff to Washington, D.C.

Ben Raymond
·2 min read

ESCANABA, Mich. (WJMN) – Dozens of Upper Peninsula veterans and their guardians are headed for Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

The group is made up of Vietnam and Korean War veterans. They were welcomed Wednesday night with a reception at the Quality Inn in Escanaba. Along with sharing poems and words of gratitude, the names of every veteran on the flight was read aloud. Part of that effort was for recognition, the other was to possibly help them reconnect with their brother and sisters in service who they may have lost touch with.

This will be the 23rd honor flight since the program started in 2015. The veterans will spend the day visiting memorials around D.C.

U.P. Honor Flight Mission XXI complete

“They are with other people who understand, who are of like minds and understand what they went through. They are with other people who never got the welcome home just like them. They feel finally to shed those tears and to start the healing process,” said Upper Peninsula Honor Flight Vice President, Kim Knauf Wyckoff.

Upper Peninsula Honor Flight is all volunteer run and relies on donations and fundraisers in the U.P. to support these trips. Volunteer organizers shared with us their reason for continuing these missions.

“The stories that we get after the flight. A lot of the veterans will stay at the hotel again tomorrow night. We like to come down the following day and ask them what they thought about the honor flight. And in many cases the transformation of these veterans in just a very short period of time, that they finally got the recognition, the thank you, the honor, the welcome home that they never got when they came home from service. That is what keeps Honor Flight going. That is so unbelievable. We call those Honor Flight miracle and we have so many Honor Flight miracles that happen,” said Knauf Wyckoff.

If you’re a veteran interested in future flights, would like to attend as a guardian or are looking for ways to support honor flights, learn more about Upper Peninsula Honor Flight here.

There is also a welcome home celebration for the veterans Thursday night at the Delta County Airport. Doors open at 7 p.m. The return flight was originally scheduled to arrive at 8:30 p.m. It is now expected to arrive at 9:30.

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