Where will you be at 5pm on Tuesday, May 6th? Hopefully at the Veterans Airport in Marion to welcome home our Veterans from their day in Washington DC. Event organizers have been working most of the year on the Welcome Home event and want to invite everyone to come out and enjoy the festivities. “The community support for the previous Honor Flight Welcome Home events has been overwhelming!” stated Deborah Hogg, Welcome Home organizer. “There is no better way to celebrate our Veterans and honor them then by giving them a Hero’s Welcome Home.” The 10-member Welcome Home Committee meets monthly to plan the event which is expected to unite the community in honoring our Veterans. The Flight #14 Welcome Home Celebration will be held outside at the front airport entrance. Th [...Read more]

Veterans Honor Flight of Southern Illinois will continue the tradition of a fall mission with Flight 15 on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. Mission 15 is expected to take 87 Veterans and their Guardians to Washington D.C. The group's 14th Mission is Tuesday, May 6, 2025. "We have been so blessed to be able to continue this mission," Veterans Honor Flight of Southern Illinois Chairman Bryan Questelle said, "We have Veterans waiting to go, and we want to continue the mission until every single Veteran in Southern Illinois has been honored." Veterans wishing to participate in Honor Flight must register online at www.veteranshonorflight.org or mail in an application. Applications received by May 16, 2025 will be considered for Mission 15. Honor Flight is provided completely free to eve [...Read more]

Gary Nelson of McLeansboro joined the US Army in February of 1968 to serve his country. Eventually deployed to fight in Vietnam, Nelson was honorably discharged in 1971 and returned to McLeansboro. Proud of his service, he applied to fly with Veterans Honor Flight in 2018. Diagnosed with terminal cancer, Nelson was overjoyed in February 2024 when he received the call to fly as an Honored Veteran with Veterans Honor Flight. Mission 12 departed early in the morning on May 7, 2024 with Nelson onboard. After a long day in Washington DC, stopping eight times to visit memorials and Arlington National Cemetery, Nelson returned with his flight to Marion to a hero’s welcome. Nelson returned home, reflecting on his Honor Flight experience and felt he must do something to help other Veterans [...Read more]