Honor Flight Long Island (HFLI), a local, nonprofit chapter of the national Honor Flight Network, will host “Reunion of Veterans” this Saturday, August 4 from 3 to 11 p.m. at the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale.
There will be 50 Veterans and 50 Guardians in attendance who took a May 12 flight to D.C. to visit their memorials.
For more information about the event, contact Virginia Bennett at 631-702-2423 or email her at vbennett@southamptontownny.gov.
HFLI organizes, hosts and pays for the bi-annual flights for veterans to visit memorials in Washington, D.C. The trips are offered to veterans who have not yet visited these memorials in our nation’s capital.
As part of the day’s events, veterans and their guardians (volunteers who make the trips possible) fly to Baltimore-Washington International Airport from Islip MacArthur Airport, where a motor coach takes them on a 50-minute drive to D.C. and the WWII, Korean and Vietnam memorials, to Arlington National Cemetery, and on to Air Force, Navy plus other memorials.
“Your country said that it needed you, and you said yes, I will go,” said Bill Jones, HFLI President, on the last D.C. trip on May 12, 2018. “Long Islanders who have a loved one interested in taking an Honor Flight, should contact us and we’ll make all the required arrangements.”
Each trip includes 50 veterans who go for free, thanks to donations from across Long Island. They are accompanied by 50 guardians, next generation, able-bodied volunteers who donate $400 (tax deductible) to offset the day’s travel expenditures.
HFLI has a roster of volunteers ready to step up for the privilege and donate the required fee if there is no family member to act as a guardian. HFLI is also now lining up 2019 trips for eligible Vietnam veterans.
For more details on HFLI, to apply for spots on an upcoming flight, or make a contribution to become a veteran’s guardian, visit www.honorflightlongisland.org or call Virginia Bennett at 631-702-2423.
