12th Annual Freedom Honor Flight Veterans Day breakfast

Veterans will be honored for their service at the 12th Annual Veterans Day breakfast in La Crosse. Veterans and a guest are invited to attend the breakfast on Monday, Nov. 11, hosted by Freedom Honor Flight and the UW-La Crosse Athletics Department. Student-athletes will serve breakfast from 7 to 10:30 a.m. at the UWL Fieldhouse in Mitchell Hall.

The morning will include entertainment from the UW-La Crosse Hoefer Brass Quintet and a program beginning at 8:45 a.m. with two speakers:

• Karl Fischer is a local veteran who served as a sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in 1973

• John Armbruster is the author of “Tailspin,” a story of a Flying Fortress tail gunner during World War II who fell four miles without a parachute and lived

Free parking is available on the day of the event in Lot C2, directly across from Mitchell Hall, next to the stadium. No RSVP is required. All veterans and a guest are welcome!

Freedom Honor Flight 31 takes off Saturday, September 21, 2024 carrying WWII, Korean and Vietnam War veterans

Organizers are preparing for Freedom Honor Flight’s 31^st trip to honor veterans by flying them to Washington D.C., to see the memorials built in their honor. Since the organization was founded in 2008, Freedom Honor Flight has flown more than 2,700 veterans to our nation’s capital. The single-day itinerary includes a welcome in Washington, D.C., and visits typically include the WWII Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and other sites via luxury motorcoaches.

Eager to fly on Saturday, September 21 are one World War Two veteran, 7 Korean Era veterans and 92 veterans from the Vietnam Era. They fly for free, joined by volunteer guardians who pay their own way to assist the veterans on this “trip of a lifetime.”

Accompanying the veterans are one physician and four paramedics from Mayo Clinic Health System and Gundersen Health System, all out of the La Crosse area. Both health systems have been longtime supporters of Freedom Honor Flight, providing the paid services of the medical professionals at no charge to the organization, plus paying for their flights. Many honor flight veterans are elderly and depend on this medical care to have a safe and comfortable experience.

The public is welcome at the morning sendoff and the evening welcome-home ceremonies. Ample parking is available. Volunteers from Optum in La Crosse will provide a golf cart shuttle service for this flight in the morning, while Knights of Columbus volunteers from St. Patrick’s in Onalaska will provide the shuttle service in the evening. All ground activities are held at Colgan Air, Hangar 4, La Crosse Airport.

In the morning, hangar doors open at 5:30 a.m. A brief ceremony at approximately 6:15 a.m. precedes the American Airlines charter flight, set to depart at 6:50 a.m. The popular welcome home ceremony features the UW-La Crosse Screaming Eagles marching band. Hangar doors open at 7:30 p.m. The flight is expected to return between 9 and 10 p.m.

Freedom Honor Flight 30 takes off Saturday, May 4

Brat sale to raise funds for Freedom Honor Flight

What: TACU Raffle & Brat Sale Fundraiser

When: Friday, May 24, 9am-3pm

Where: TACU Credit Union, 940 N. Superior Ave. in Tomah

Proceeds from the brat sale benefit Freedom Honor Flight. All ticket sales from the raffle go to Tomah Area Cancer Support. Raffle tickets can be purchased from TACU’s lobby throughout May.

2024 flight dates announced

Freedom Honor Flight will make two trips to Washington D.C. in 2024, flying veterans to see the memorials built in their honor. The spring flight is set to take off on Saturday, May 4 and the fall flight on Saturday, September 21.

Since the organization was founded in 2008, Freedom Honor Flight has flown more than 2,600 veterans to our nation’s capital. The organization is currently flying veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam with the majority of those veterans coming from the Vietnam era. The single-day itinerary includes a welcome in Washington, D.C., and visits typically include the WWII Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and other sites via luxury motorcoaches.

More than 660 veterans are on a waitlist to fly from La Crosse. While the organization is financially solid, each flight costs around $130,000. “While we have extremely generous donors, with rising costs and inflation, we’ll need continued support from the community in order to continue operating these flights. You can check out our website, freedomhonorflight.org to find out how you can support the organization,” said Freedom Honor Flight Board President Kevin Kuchar.

“If you or someone you know hasn’t signed up for a future flight, we encourage you to go to our website, navigate to the applications page where you’ll find veteran and guardian forms, and do so. You can also find an online application that you can fill out and submit right on the site and instantly be put on the waitlist.”

Freedom Honor Flight serves the Tri-state area. In Wisconsin, that includes the following counties: Crawford, Vernon, La Crosse, Monroe, Juneau, Adams, Buffalo, Trempealeau, Jackson, Pierce, Pepin, St. Croix, Dunn, Chippewa and Eau Claire. In Minnesota: Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Houston, Mower, Olmstead, Wabasha and Winona counties. In Iowa: Allamakee, Chickasaw, Floyd, Howard, Mitchell and Winneshiek.

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Freedom Honor Flight is the first Wisconsin affiliate of the national network of Honor Flight organizations. The hub, based in La Crosse, serves 30 counties in western Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota and northern Iowa. The group’s mission is to organize and fly groups of veterans to Washington D.C. to visit the war memorials that stand in their honor. The group receives no government funding and depends on donations, which are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. Learn more at www.freedomhonorflight.org.