[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18035]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             HONOR FLIGHTS

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, the last point I wish to make before 
turning to the Senator from Oklahoma is something that we call Honor 
Flights. One of the great things that have come out of the National 
World War II Memorial is that men and women who have served in World 
War II are now getting the opportunity to go to visit this National 
World War II Memorial.
  Retired Air Force Capt. Earl Morse, who worked in a VA clinic in 
Springfield, OH, would often talk with his World War II veteran 
patriots. He realized that for most of these veterans, their dream of 
seeing the memorial built on the National Mall would never come true. 
So one day in 2004, Captain Morse, a pilot and a member of the air club 
at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, asked one of his patients if he 
could personally fly him to Washington free of charge. The veteran, Mr. 
Loy, broke down in tears and accepted Earl's offer. Soon Earl was 
offering to fly other World War II veterans to visit the memorial and 
soliciting help from other pilots.
  Eleven pilots from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base volunteered. In 
May 2005, the first Honor Flight took off from Springfield, OH.
  A decade later, the Honor Flight Network is a national nonprofit that 
has flown 100,000 veterans, usually 40 or 50 or 60 at a time in a 
charter flight--always with a caretaker because these veterans are 
never young. They are World War II veterans. They have been out of the 
service now for 70 years at least.
  The Honor Flight Program is in 41 States. I have had the honor of 
meeting a number of them. Toledo, OH, seems to be one which has 
particularly excelled and is encouraging local people, raising local 
money and getting every single veteran from northwest Ohio who was able 
to and wanted to join these Honor Flights.
  I will quote one of these volunteers. Jim Salamon works for the Honor 
Flight Program in Dayton. He told me of a volunteer who goes by Ace and 
who works at an Arby's in Maryland and provides discounted meals for 
Honor Flight Program attendees. Jim said:

       Ace is part of Honor Flight Dayton's family. We rely on Ace 
     and he has not let us down. Over the last nine years Ace has 
     saved us more than $30,000 [because of Arby's donating these 
     meals], which pays the cost of transporting 92 veterans.

  With an average of 800 World War II veterans dying each day, the 
mission of the Honor Flight Program is more important now than ever.
  I am thankful to those who have helped Honor Flight. I am thankful to 
those veterans and their families who have done so much.
  I remind my colleagues, as they are always eager to vote for more 
money for weapons, that we should understand and think about the cost 
of war and take care of our returning servicemembers.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.

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