This year’s final Honor Flight will happen Wednesday, Oct. 16, departing the Springfield-Branson National Airport at about 5 a.m. before returning that evening. On this flight there are 81 veterans, including eight from the Korean Conflict and 73 from Vietnam. There are two female veterans on the flight and nine veterans who live in Arkansas.
The veterans will see something special on this trip: Honor Flight of the Ozarks has been selected by the Arlington National Cemetery to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Theresa Suda, a board member of Honor Flight of the Ozarks who owns Rose Among Thorns flower shop, will make the wreath in Springfield and take it on the place to Washington, D.C. to be used in the ceremony.
Flight Coordinator David Snider said that this ceremony is quite the honor. He said the group submitted a request to Arlington National Ceremony for the wreath-laying the previous February and was selected to do so on the October flight. He added that anyone wanting to welcome these veterans back home should be at the airport by 8 p.m. Wednesday.