Honor Flight Leaves Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee

Monday, October 3rd, 2022 -- 8:12 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) Mission 42 for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight took off from the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee.

According to Mike Leischner of WSAU, Co-Founder Jim Campbell says those on the flight have been in the cue since well before the COVID-19 pandemic paused all flights. "These veterans have been waiting almost five years. The flights this year were applicants from 2017-18. So, they're really pumped up."

He says because of that the wait time for a flight has gone up, but they are doing what they can to eat through the waitlist. "We had the airlines help by taking out the first class seating, so that gave us ten more seats. So, instead of taking 95 veterans, we start with 110"

He says that has also caused a backlog, meaning they've altered some booking procedures to make sure they can get everyone to Washington in a timely manner. That includes carefully planning their ratio of guardians to Veterans. "Because they're hard enough to keep track of when you have one let alone two or three. So, we want to fill these with as many veterans as possible."

Campbell says the Honor Flight experience has not changed despite the two-year hiatus, and that's the most important part of the program. "World War II is absoultely beautiful. Korea is awesome in itself. But the interaction with the people is what's most important to them. Many of these veterans have never been thanked for their serivce."

He says despite that backlog they don't plan to expand to beyond four flights per year:

"The bottom line is we have a very dedicated, 12-member Board of Directors that work pretty hard 12 months of the year. And by adding more flights, we're afraid it will burn them out."

Campbell says they are still taking applicants despite the long wait list and the criteria hasn't changed- the only qualification is that you served active duty during the dates listed on the form.

Those who served in Korea or World War two will go to the front of the line, Vietnam Veterans will likely have to wait a few years.

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