About Great River Honor Flight
The idea for the Great River Honor Flight locally came to being in an almost parallel world. At the same time some colleagues on the Board were first hearing about the Honor Flight program from the hub that had been recently started in Columbia, Missouri during a weekly meeting at the Hannibal Rotary Club, others were hearing about it thru a phone call from a broadcast colleague from Columbia. Somehow these two groups got together. Next thing you know, we set up a meeting between all these people who realized this was something we needed to be a part of and to see what could be done locally. That was August 2009.
After many meetings and discussions, we decided that the Tri States area needed to have an Honor Flight hub to serve those veterans who lived here. Before we could do that, three things needed to happen. One we needed to better understand how to accomplish the mission locally. Two we needed to go on a mission before we could schedule one. And three, we needed to get the word out about this thing called Honor Flight.
Understanding the mission came to us thru the mentorship of our friends in Columbia. We figured, we couldn’t possibly be the firsts to have any of the problems we were experiencing, so let’s learn from those who may have already experienced it.
As far as going on a mission, Carlos Fernandez and former board member, David Mobley, Associate Judge of Ralls County 10th Judicial Court, signed up, paid the fee, were trained, and went as Guardians with an Honor Flight from Central Missouri. Essentially the same experience we’ve done for the many guardians who have accompanied us on our many local flights.
What was learned on that flight only increased our passion for the Honor Flight program. On that flight, one veteran had a lot of issues dealing with motion sickness. This required a lot of personal attention to this one veteran from many guardians and the medical staff that went on that trip. The result was that the expected itinerary that had been shared had to be changed. In the end, we were not able to visit Arlington National Cemetery and see the Changing of the Guard – an incredibly solemn experience for anyone, but especially so for veterans. Yet, no one complained. The feeling over that trip was simply one of “if one of our own needs helps then that is the most important thing we can do for him.”
Add to that the incredible show of gratitude and support that was evident from total strangers during this entire day and we came back much better persons than the ones that left early that morning.
So off we went to share the vision of what we had seen and to get enough interest to duplicate it for local veterans throughout the Tri State region we live in. We accepted the invitation to tell our story to anyone who would want us.
Great River Honor Flight came together thanks to the cooperation of service groups from both sides of the Mississippi. The Exchange Club of Quincy and the Rotary Club of Hannibal played an important role in the creation of this local hub.
On Veterans Day, 2009, we officially applied and became an Honor Flight hub. We originally wanted to call it Tri State Honor Flight, but believe it or not, that was the hub’s name that Earl Morse got started back in Ohio, so we settled for Great River in honor of the Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri rivers which are so much a part of all of our lives.
The “flight” takes place within 24 hours. We are located as far WEST of DC as one can be to make this possible.
We alternate our departures from both Quincy and Hannibal because after all, if we only did it from Illinois, those who live in Missouri would call it an “Illinois thing” and vice versa if we only left from Missouri.
