MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WTAQ) - Wisconsin’s largest Honor Flight took 300 World War II veterans to Washington D.C. Sunday to see the national memorial for their conflict. A quarter-million dollar fundraising effort allowed a 747-jet to fly the veterans for the first time.
The one-day trip started and ended in Milwaukee – and large crowds cheered the vets at both their departure and arrival points. The veterans were from 82 to 97-years-old. They had waited over a year to take one of the Honor Flights which have also been popular in recent years in Madison, Wausau, La Crosse, and Appleton.
The number of World War II veterans is dwindling rapidly, and the trips give them a chance to see their war’s memorial before they die. The trips are free for veterans, while chaperones and others pay a fee to join them. Sunday’s group also saw other sights in Washington including the Iwo Jima Memorial and Air Force memorials. They also went to the Pentagon. And they saw a changing of the guard ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
