North Central West Virginia residents have a chance to welcome home some heroes this weekend.
Honor Flight, which will take place Oct. 22, supports veterans who might not have received a warm welcome home returning stateside after battle.
“I’m looking forward to see the veterans faces when we arrive in D.C. and they see their monuments and memorials and to see them when we arrive back at the airport and they see the gathering for the welcome home,” Huntington-based Honor Flight Clarksburg Flight Coordinator Billie Jo Claypool said.
Honor Flight is a national program that provides a day trip to veterans who served in World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War to visit memorials dedicated to the wars they served in and other memorials across Washington D.C. The flight is free for veterans and three meals are provided throughout the day.
Every Honor Flight program has one hub per state. The hub in West Virginia is located in Huntington. Typically, Huntington’s Honor Flight is held in the spring, but there is a branch through the Huntington hub that holds their honor flight from Bridgeport’s North Central West Virginia Airport each fall.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the looks of excitement on their faces and all that we can do for them,” Honor Flight Clarksburg Guardian Paul Phillips said.
The first Honor Flight in West Virginia was held and 2014 and it is typically held annually. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first honor flight since 2019.
On Oct. 22, around 100 veterans and 80 guardians, or support volunteers, will meet at the North Central West Virginia Airport at 4:30 a.m. After breakfast, they will fly to Baltimore-Washington International Airport and take buses to visit a variety of attractions and memorials, including the World War II Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. They will have lunch on the bus and a catered dinner at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, before flying home.
They will arrive back in Clarksburg around 8:30 p.m. and are asking members of the community to come out and honor the veterans as they return home. Guests are asked to arrive a little earlier than 8:30 p.m..
“A lot of these vets were never welcomed home, particularly Vietnam. World War II got a welcome home and Korea kind of did. Vietnam vets, by the time they got back home were spit on and not welcomed back. So, this is a welcome home,” Phillips said.
Claypool is taking her third honor flight and first as the Clarksburg coordinator. She got involved with Honor Flight in honor of her grandfather who wanted to go on a flight, but never had the opportunity.
“It was on my grandfather’s bucket list and he did not get to go on an Honor Flight before he passed. I, myself took him to D.C. and we saw the monuments and memorials; we stayed up there. We spent two nights three days and toured the monuments together. But, he did not get to go on an Honor Flight himself,” Claypool said.
For more information on the Honor Flight visit their website. To donate, you can mail a check to Huntington Honor Flight at 1492 Run Rd., New Milton, West Virginia, 26411, with Clarksburg in the memo line or visit their website. There is also a silent auction online, which can be accessed here. Contact Billie Jo Claypool at 304-677-7812 for more information.
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