[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 86 (Friday, May 23, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1074]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             RECOGNIZING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF EARL MORSE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN A. BOEHNER

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 22, 2008

  Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Speaker, I along with Mr. Hobson rise today to 
recognize Mr. Earl Morse, an Ohioan who has dedicated himself to 
honoring World War II veterans from across the country by making it 
possible for them to visit the national memorial built and dedicated in 
their honor.
  Mr. Morse is a physician's assistant and a retired Air Force captain 
from Enon, Ohio. While working at the Department of Veterans Affairs, 
he realized that most of the veterans he took care of were not able to 
make the trip to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. 
Since Mr. Morse was also a pilot, he offered to personally fly one of 
his patients to visit the memorial.
  Upon realizing the desire to visit the memorial was so great, Mr. 
Morse started to ask for help from other pilots to make these trips a 
reality. During an aero club meeting in January of 2005, he outlined a 
volunteer program to fly senior World War II veterans to visit their 
memorial with no cost to the veteran. The pilots would be asked to 
volunteer the use of their aircraft and their time. After Mr. Morse 
spoke, 11 pilots who had never met his patients signed up to establish 
the first of what would be many ``Honor Flights.''
  In 2005, the Honor Flight program took 137 World War II veterans to 
visit their memorial. As the popularity of the program grew, the need 
for more volunteers and the use of commercial aircraft became 
necessary. By 2006, an estimated 300 Ohio veterans made the trip to 
visit the World War II Memorial.
  The mission and ideals of Mr. Morse's Honor Flight soon spread across 
the Nation, and a network of community leaders and volunteers became 
established to form the Honor Flight Network. The program presently has 
69 hubs in 30 States, and is working to establish hubs in all 50 States 
by the end of 2006.
  Madam Speaker, on the eve of Memorial Day, we feel that it is only 
fitting to pay tribute to Mr. Morse, who has demonstrated his 
patriotism and his respect for a generation of men and women who 
sacrificed so much to ensure the security of this world, and to 
guarantee the freedoms that we enjoy today.
  We thank Mr. Earl Morse for his outstanding effort to honor the 
legacy of one of our Nation's most valuable resources, our veterans. We 
wish him, and his organization, all the best with his continued effort 
to ensure his objective is completed.

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