QUINCY, Ill. — The Great River Honor Flight Board of Directors announced that the initial mission of 2024, #69^, will take place on Thursday, April 11^th out of John Wood Community College in Quincy. A total of 32 veterans will take part on this trip.  Of them, 29 served during the Vietnam era and the remaining 3 served before or after Vietnam.  They represent Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

This will be the 69^th mission overall for local veterans since the program started serving the Tri   State region in 2010.  Since then, 2,195 local veterans who served in WWII, Korea, Vietnam and between those conflicts have previously participated in this program.  The 32 veterans come from Illinois (Adams, Monroe, Henry, Brown, and Madison counties), Missouri (Marion, Lewis, and Adair), plus Iowa (Lee).  The group includes 5 veterans whose assigned guardian is either their son or daughter.  A complete list of the veterans and their hometowns is included at the end of this News Release.

The departure and return on April 11th will be from the campus of John Wood Community College in Quincy.  The trip will follow the itinerary that has been so successful over the past 15 years.  It includes a 2:00AM departure for a bus ride to Lambert Field in St. Louis where they will board their flight to Baltimore and then on to DC where they will visit the Vietnam Wall, Korea Memorial, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, Air Force Memorial, Navy Memorial and see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.  The veterans will then head to Reagan International Airport for their return flight back to St. Louis.  A charter bus will bring them back to the JWCC Basketball Arena for a rousing homecoming. The expected arrival time back in Quincy will be around 10:30PM.

The missions planned for 2024 include:

#69 – Thursday, April 11, 2024 – out of John Wood Community College

#70 – Thursday, May 30, 2024 – out of Hannibal LaGrange University

#71 – Thursday, June 27, 2024 – out of John Wood Community College

#72 – Thursday, August 15, 2024 – out of Hannibal LaGrange University

#73 – Thursday, September 12, 2024 – out of John Wood Community College

#74 – Thursday, October 10, 2024 – out of Hannibal LaGrange University

Great River Honor Flight was chartered on Veterans Day 2009 with its first flight scheduled on April 13, 2010.  Back then all the veterans were from World War II.  That is the way it continued for several years until it was decided to expand to those veterans who had served during the Korean War.  Since then we have also expanded to include veterans during the Vietnam War as well as those who served between WWII, Korea and Vietnam and veterans serving thru 1985.  Our goal remains to honor the total number of local veterans who served our country with a FREE trip to Washington DC.

To date Great River Honor Flight, the Tri-States’ hub of the Honor Flight program has flown 2,195 local Veterans to Washington D.C. since it was established in 2009. This trip will increase that total to 2,227.  Great River Honor Flight, a Missouri Nonprofit Corporation established in October of 2009, was created solely to honor America’s veterans that live in our area for all they have sacrificed by providing, free of charge, transportation to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials dedicated to honor their service and sacrifices.

For additional information, contact Carlos Fernandez at csfernandez1951@gmail.com or

Great River Honor Flight

PO Box 3723

Quincy, Illinois  62305

Viet	Altheide	Richard	Quincy	Adams	IL	A
Viet	Barnes	Robert W	Keokuk	Lee	IA	A
AFV	Barnes	Robert E	Kewanee	Henry	IL	N
Viet	Bartz	John N	Ewing	Lewis	MO	AF
Viet	Bier	Michael J	Quincy	Adams	IL	A
Viet	Blum	Kenneth J	Loraine	Adams	IL	A
Viet	Carriger	Howard W	Hannibal	Marion	MO	N
Viet	Cooley	Alvin D	Versailles	Brown	IL	M
AFV	Devlin	Leon G	Kirksville	Adair	MO	AF
AFV	Devlin	Steven	Columbia	Boone	MO	A
Viet	Grubb	Dan	Granite City	Madison	IL	A
Viet	Hamann	Ricky	Quincy	Adams	IL	A
Viet	Hamann	Ronald	Quincy	Adams	IL	A
Viet	Helms	James E	Edwardsville	Madison	IL	N
Viet	Hickey	Gerald	Quincy	Adams	IL	A
Viet	Keller	George M	Hannibal	Marion	MO	A
Viet	Kleyer	Maurice JJ	Waterloo	Monroe	IL	N
Viet	Lilly	Darrell E	Hannibal	Marion	MO	A
Viet	Lord	Joseph R	Plainville	Adams	IL	M
Viet	Lynk	Jimmy K	Fort Madison	Lee	IA	A
Viet	Mason	Alfred L	Quincy	Adams	IL	M
Viet	Mast	Philip R.	Quincy	Adams	IL	A
Viet	Moneymaker	Dwaine A	Granite City	Madison	IL	M
Viet	Muegge	Floyd Lee	Quincy	Adams	IL	A
Viet	Murdock	Lance R	Hannibal	Marion	MO	N
Viet	Rost	James D	Quincy	Adams	IL	A
AFV	Rost	Todd	Quincy	Adams	IL	M
Viet	Rupert	James L	Quincy	Adams	IL	A
Viet	Silver	Richard H.	Hannibal	Marion	MO	AF
Viet	Volk	Daniel	Mt. Sterling	Brown	IL	A
Viet	Yeater	Terry L	Hannibal	Marion	MO	M
Viet	Zimmerman	David W.	Quincy	Adams	IL	A

AFV stands for Armed Forces Veteran and represents someone who served in between or after major conflicts.

HONOR FLIGHT MISSION #69

Following times are Central

12:30 am      Check-in for participants of Honor Flight – John Wood Community College Cafeteria

1:30 am         Guardian briefing

1:45 am         Bus Loading – 2:00 am Depart  JWCC

4:00 am         Arrive St. Louis Airport (Southwest Terminal)

6:00am          Southwest Airlines Flight 1125 departs STL

Following times are Eastern

9:00 am         Flight arrives at BWI (Baltimore)

9:45 am         Board Bus for trip to Washington – Lunch and Video to be played during trip

10:30 am      Arrive at Vietnam, Korea and Lincoln Memorials.  Bus will load close to Korea Memorial.

12:00 pm      Depart Korean/Vietnam Memorial for WWII Memorial.

12:15 pm      Arrive at World War II Memorial (South Entrance) – Group picture to be taken.

1:00 pm        Depart WWII Memorial – Go to Iwo Jima

1:20 pm        Iwo Jima

1:50 pm        Depart Iwo Jima for Air Force

2:00 pm        Air Force

2:25 pm        Depart Air Force for Arlington National Cemetery

2:35 pm        Arrive at Arlington National Cemetery – We will plan to see the Changing of the Guard at 3:00.

3:30 pm        Depart Arlington for Navy Memorial and Tour of DC

3:45 pm        Dinner at Navy Memorial

5:00 pm        Head to Reagan National Airport

5:20 pm        Arrive at Reagan National Airport.

6:40 pm        Southwest Airlines Flight 100 departs Reagan National (DC)

Following times are Central

7:55 pm        Flight arrives at STL airport/ Board Bus for JWCC – Quincy.

10:30 pm      Approximate time of arrival at JWCC Basketball Arena-