Flight of Champions: Stars and Stripes Honor Flight teams up with Packers, Brewers and Bucks to honor vets
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks teamed up to sponsor three planeloads of local veterans as part of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight's 65th "mission."
The "Flight of Champions," taking place Saturday, Oct. 8, will honor approximately 240 Korean War and Vietnam War veterans from southeast and east central Wisconsin with a one-day, all expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials built in their honor and to experience a full day of honor and thanks for their service to our nation.
"To see the emotion they have when they get to do this and to go through the opportunity and their reminiscing, you can look at them, you can see that they're reminiscing in their mind. Then you come home and the festivities coming home - it just doesn't get any better than that," said Jerry Augustine, former pitcher with the Milwaukee Brewers.
According to a news release, two planeloads of veterans, guardians and alumni from the Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks, will depart from Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport that morning. Simultaneously, a third plane of veterans, guardians and Green Bay Packers alumni will depart from Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport.
When the three planes arrive at Washington Dulles International Airport on flight day, the veterans, their guardians and team representatives will spend the day touring Washington. The tour will include the WWII Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Marine Corps/Iwo Jima Memorial, and the Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery.
In addition to the Oct. 8 Flight of Champions, Stars and Stripes Honor Flight will fly fall missions on Saturday September 10, and Saturday November 5. Once those flights are complete, Stars and Stripes Honor Flight will have flown almost 9,000 local veterans on these trips to Washington since 2008 and honored more than 50 veterans locally who were not able to fly.