Honor Flight Northeast Indiana (HFNEI) will celebrate its 26th flight to Washington D.C. on Wednesday, October 25.

Flight #26 currently consists of a total of 85 veterans: 16 WWII; 65 Korea; and 4 Vietnam. This includes four woman veterans and husband and wife Navy Korea Veterans Paul and Betty Wiseheart.

Honor Flight Northeast Indiana President Dennis Covert states; “October 25, 2017 will be flight number 26 for HFNEI. With the completion of this Honor Flight, 1,877 veterans will have been transported to Washington, D. C. from Fort Wayne to view their memorials. We appreciate the support shown by the community for our veterans. For the September 27, 2017 Honor Flight, it was estimated that 3,800 friends and family members turned out to welcome home the veterans at the Fort Wayne International Airport.”

Honor Flight participants will be witnessing a special ceremony. On Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., the Friends of the National World War II Memorial will host a brief ceremony and wreath presentation at the World War II Memorial’s Pacific Arch to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, a major naval engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the lengthy and strategically important Guadalcanal campaign in the Pacific Theater of World War II. During the ceremony, WWII veterans will present wreaths in honor of the U.S. Navy service members who served and in remembrance of the nearly 300 killed during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

Veterans and volunteer guardians will gather at the 122nd Air National Guard Fighter Wing at 6:00 a.m. with take-off projected to be at 8 a.m. Returning home, the community is encouraged to patriotically welcome the veterans in the Main Terminal of the Fort Wayne International Airport the evening of October 25. Return time is tentative, but expected to be at approximately 9:00 p.m. More information regarding the public’s participation and return timing will be shared on the group’s Facebook page at HFNEI.

95% of all donations go directly towards the veterans’ trips. Honor Flight NE Indiana, Inc. is a volunteer, nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.