Villages Honor Flight has postponed all of its missions until next April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The local organization that has been transporting veterans to Washington, D.C., to see the monuments dedicated to them for the past eight years is following a directive released Thursday by the National Honor Flight board of directors.
The Villages Honor Flight’s board of directors already had delayed its two springs flights until sometime in the fall. Those missions originally were set to take place April 1 and May 27. The April 1 trip was supposed to be the group’s 50th mission and was to include 44 veterans, two of whom served in World War II, while others were in the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Berlin Crisis, the Cold War and others.
In honor of the 50th mission milestone, the group held a gathering in early March at The Villages Polo Fields for participants, Honor Flight volunteers and The Villages Twirlers and Drum Corps to spell out “50!” More than 300 people participated in the photo op which took place before the massive outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Villages Honor Flight formed in late 2011 and made its first flight to Washington, D.C. on May 26, 2012. Veterans participating in the events meet at American Legion Post 347 in the wee hours of the morning and take buses to Orlando International Airport. From there, they fly to Baltimore and after many special greetings at the airport, they take a bus tour through the city and visit the National World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.
