Local residents will have the opportunity to honor 22 veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam participating in a Flightless Honor Flight Saturday, Sept. 30
The traditional Welcome Home Celebration at the American Legion Post on Rolling Acres Roas will begin at 2:30 p.m.
Entertainment for the homecoming crowd will begin at 1 p.m. and will include the Village Cheerleaders, Village Twirlers, Clown Alley 179, and Ralph DiNome and his Flashback band.
The public is invited to participate in the Welcome Home celebration and everyone is encouraged to bring a lawn chair and an American flag.
Villages Honor Flight’s Flightless program began in 2014. It gives veterans who are unable to participate in a regular flight to Washington, D.C., the opportunity to share the experience. The Flightless program, through video technology and a little magic, recreates the entire experience of a normal mission except for the actual flight to D.C. and back.
Each veteran will have a dedicated guardian, a pre-flight meeting to get the mission participants together for an orientation and some socialization, a special flight shirt and a squad-oriented social event.
Villages Honor Flight serves veterans in Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion and Sumter counties.