Honor Flights return in August, grounded over a year

MILWAUKEE - After roughly a year and a half of being grounded, the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight has been cleared for takeoff.

"The Honor Flight Network is really the ones who have been watching the guidelines," said Paula Nelson, Stars and Stripes Honor Flight. "We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that this is Honor Flight as usual, but there will be some changes. We will have to follow the guidelines as required by the airports, the airlines and even some of the parks in D.C. may require masking and things like that."

The flight dates are Aug. 28, Sept. 25, Oct.16 and Nov. 6. As of now, the destination and the itinerary are the same as they’ve always been. The biggest change comes before you even board the plane.

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"We are flying only those who are fully vaccinated on our first flights," said Nelson. "We just feel like that is the safest way to transport our oldest and dearest veterans."

Pending major COVID protocol changes, this is the plan to move forward. 

If veterans get accepted to be on one of these early flights but object to the safety requirements, staff say they can defer their flight until a later time.

"We’ll take every precaution we can to ensure that they have a safe and yet very memorable day," said Nelson.

So veterans, get ready to fly because Honor Flights are back! 

"Now that it’s really here, we’ve got all of our gears in motion to get everything set in place," said Nelson.