Hudson Valley Honor Flight to Reach Milestone with Mission 30 on May 20, 2023
WALDEN, N.Y. (May 12, 2023) — Hudson Valley Honor Flight (HVHF) will mark another milestone in its service to our veterans with the nonprofit organization’s 30th flight to Washington, D.C. Mission 30 will depart from Westchester County Airport on Saturday, May 20, 2023 with 68 honored veterans (34 of whom are from Westchester County) on board for the flight of a lifetime and bringing the total number of veterans honored by HVHF to 2,312.
Mission 30 will honor the most Vietnam Veterans of any Westchester flight, with 57 taking part. In addition, there are four World War II veterans, six Korea veterans and one Cold War-era veteran set to receive the honor and travel to D.C. to visit and reflect at the various war memorials.
“It’s hard to believe it has been nine years since October 18, 2014 and our first Mission flying WWII Veterans from Westchester County Airport,” said Frank Kimler, HVHF Board Chairman. “We are honored, thrilled and humbled to be honoring our next generation of American heroes, our Vietnam veterans, with this same experience of a lifetime on our 30th Mission on May 20th.”
“As always, we could not do this without the generous sponsorship of ShopRite Supermarkets,” said Jennifer DeFrancesco, HVHF Executive Director. “This support has had a huge impact on our local veteran heroes and on our ability to continue flying.”
HVHF provides a once-in-a-lifetime flight to Washington, D.C., where veterans are transported around the district by bus to visit war memorials, attend a dinner in their honor and then return home. Each veteran is escorted by a personal guardian and the HVHF flight team for the day-long trip.
HVHF is funded solely by the generosity of its donors. If you’d like to donate, please visit hvhonorflight.com/donate.
ABOUT HUDSON VALLEY HONOR FLIGHT
Hudson Valley Honor Flight (HVHF) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization which “Honors American Veterans” for all their sacrifices. HVHF transports these heroes to Washington, D.C., to visit memorials at no cost to them. It is the local hub of the National Honor Flight Network (which consists of more than 100 independent non-profit “hubs” across America). HVHF flies multiple times a year out of Stewart International Airport and Westchester County Airport. It serves veterans from the following counties: Orange (N.Y.), Ulster (N.Y.), Dutchess (N.Y.), Westchester (N.Y.), Rockland (N.Y.), Sullivan (N.Y.), Putnam (N.Y.), Pike (Pa.), Bergen (N.J.), and Fairfield (Conn.). Veterans from other surrounding counties are considered as well. Top priority is given to those veterans of the Greatest Generation, that of WWII, followed by veterans of the Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam and all terminally ill veterans. Applications are kept on file. For more information, visit hvhonorflight.com.
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