Honor Flight was created to honor America’s Veterans for their sacrifices. Our speaker, Bruce McGrath, told us that the first Honor Flight took place in 2005 with 6 small planes taking 12 WWII Veterans from Springfield, Ohio on a visit to the memorial in Washington DC. Since then, over 300,000 veterans nation-wide have taken the trip. The Central Coast Chapter was formed
in 2014 and so far have sent about 600 veterans to Washington DC with the most recent flight leaving on Monday with 5 WWII and 6 Korean War Vets on board.
Some interesting facts: When the Japanese came aboard the USS Missouri to sign the surrender documents, Gen. McArthur sat them at a table that he had lowered, by cutting the legs, so they would be much lower than the US military standing in the room.
In 1921, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated to the services of an unknown soldier and to the common memories of all
soldiers killed in any war. With the emergence of DNA
technology, there should never be another unknown soldier.
Our Club was honored to present Bruce with a check for $1500 so one more veteran can take the trip to Washington D.C.