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Great River Honor Flight Celebrates 16 Years of
Honoring Veterans with Special Themed Missions
2025 marks the 16th year of operation for Great River Honor Flight. Since Veterans Day 2009, the local Honor Flight hub has been offering FREE trips to Washington, DC for local veterans. “From the very first trip on April 13, 2010 to the latest one on October 10, 2024, our mission has remain constant - Celebrating America’s Veterans by inviting them to share a day of Honor at our Nation’s Memorials,” said Carlos Fernandez, Chairman of the Great River Honor Flight Board.
“2025 will be a very special year with a number of special events, including the 75th mission as well as an All-Female Veterans flight scheduled for June,” commented Sharon Lake, Vice-Chair.
“Our impact on offering veterans the Honor Flight experience for FREE is due to the ongoing financial support over the years from the more than 13,000 donors made up of individuals, groups, businesses and the veterans themselves,” added Doug Reed, Treasurer.
2025 will feature 5 missions. Preparations for the first three trips are currently being made.
April 17, 2025 – 75th Mission
The first mission of the new year marks the 75th overall trip of the program. It will be from the campus of John Wood Community College in Quincy.
June 19, 2025 – All-Female Flight
A very special mission is planned for this date. It will feature the first ever All-Female Veterans group. Preparations for this special trip includes the usual preflight meeting as well as a tour of Hannibal sites, riverboat cruise and a dinner the evening before at the Hannibal American Legion Hall. In DC, a big focus of this trip will be a tour, presentation and dinner at the Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
August 14, 2025 – All-Adams County Flight to commemorate Bicentennial Celebration
As part of the year-long Bicentennial Celebration, this flight will prominently feature veterans from Adams County. Veterans from Adams hold the #1 spot with 751 having gone to date.
The remaining 2 dates in September and October, 2025 will soon be announced.
The proof of the program’s success lies in the numbers it has accomplished.
Among them:
74 Missions
2,381 Veterans Honored
429 WWII – 582 Korea – 1,268 Vietnam – 101 Armed Forces Veterans
(Including Guardians that number grows to over 4,000)
Veterans from 73 counties in Illinois (32), Missouri (34) and Iowa (7)
Veterans are encouraged to go to www.greatriverhonorflight.com and fill out an application. Our number one goal is to ensure that all local veterans are aware of this opportunity and sign up for a future flight.
For additional information, contact
Carlos Fernandez at csfernandez1951@gmail.com or
Great River Honor Flight
PO Box 3723
Quincy, Illinois 62305
To the Staff of the Great River Honor Flight,
I am incredibly grateful to the Great River Honor Flight for allowing me to participate in Mission 70 to Washington DC. I know the planning and coordination required to execute this as well as you did was no small feat. My heart felt salute and thank you to all and I will remember this day forever.
Please let me give you a little background. I was a 19-year-old private in the Army when I arrived in Vietnam. I was a medic assigned to an infantry unit with nothing more than basic medical life saving skills. I soon discovered just how ugly war is. My hands have been soaked in the blood of my enemy and the blood of my friends. No amount of washing has ever taken the stain out. I have been scared like no person ever should be. This day brought back both emotional relief and overwhelming sadness. As I looked upon that wall I couldn’t help but think back at how many times I was given the opportunity to be among their names. I shook my head in disbelief that I was one of the fortunate ones to make it back alive. I still wonder why to this day. My mind gets stuck on how it could have turned out so different.
I confess. When entered the sports complex upon our return and all those people were there to welcome us back, I cried. I never felt so warmly appreciated for my service as I did upon our return from Mission 70. It was an emotional but a joyous day for me and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
David A Knotts
Command Sergeant Major (Ret)
U.S.Army
To Celebrate America’s Veterans
by inviting them to share in a day of Honor at our Nation’s Memorials
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.
Great River Honor Flight first flight was 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 those conflicts. Our goal is to continue to increase the total number of local veterans who have flown to Washington DC for free thanks to the financial support of so many individuals, groups and businesses in the area who remained supportive of the cause since its beginning.
