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More Northwest Iowa Veterans Take Special Charter Flight To Washington DC

May 22, 2024 Steve Schwaller

(Sioux Center)– Some 80 veterans recently got a chance to visit armed forces memorials in Washington DC. The Sioux Center-based Midwest Honor Flight headed up the effort. The veterans are from northwest Iowa as well as South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Since its launch in 2017, Midwest Honor Flight has flown more than 16 hundred veterans to DC, though board president and CEO Aaron Van Beek says a lot has changed since that first flight seven years ago…

“I could get a plane chartered for about $65,000 and now we’re looking at our pricing going into the fall it’s about double that. So the price continues to change but it’s a free opportunity, no expense to the veterans for the flight itself, all of the meals, all of the busing, all of the transportation, all that kind of stuff, is covered for them.”

Van Beek says with six flights scheduled for this year alone, it’s a big bill, but they’ve got it covered…

“Thankfully we’ve had great sponsors, great donors, great fundraisers, and of course our guardian and crew that go along and volunteer their time in addition to making a donation to go on those flights.”

The tour includes stops at Arlington National Cemetery to see the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Iwo Jima, and Air Force Memorials, the Navy Memorial, and the World War Two, Korean War, and Vietnam War Memorials complete the tour. Five of the six flights this year are sponsored, he says, and sponsors provide most of the cost for a flight and receive naming rights…

“We want our veterans to all have the same experience, to be able to see the memorials, be able to reflect and visit and to be honored as the heroes that they are.”

Van Beek says all veterans from World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam are welcome to apply, but World War Two veterans and veterans with terminal medical diagnoses receive top priority for any flight. He says the waiting list never seems to go below 750, but he doesn’t want that to discourage veterans from applying. Not only does it get a veteran on the list, but Van Beek says it helps with fundraising and obtaining flight sponsors.

(Courtesy Community First Broadcasting station KSOU in Sioux Center)