PEORIA, Ill. – Veterans will be taking to the skies on Tuesday from Peoria to Washington D.C. to remember those that served with them.
Tuesday is the day the Greater Peoria Honor Flight will be taking its Spring flight. The flight flies veterans on a charter flight to visit war memorials for a day in the nation’s capital.
Luke Rosenbaum is a retirend Air National Guard member, and the Peoria chapter’s President. He tell’s WMBD’s “Craig Collins Show” about the first time he met veterans on Honor Flight with his family.
“You see a whole bunch of grown men in uniform tearing up,” Rosenbaum said. “I remember distinctly one veterans went to my kids, shook their hands, and said ‘I did it for them.’”
Rosenbaum says he took part in three flights last year. He says while the same thing is done on each trip, each one is uniquely different.
“It’s the same place, but you’re going with a different person. So they have a different story, different connection to these memorials,” Rosenbaum said. “When you sit there and you’re looking at them looking at the numbers on the Vietnam Wall, finding their friends, and then they’re just reminiscing. It’s an emotional rollercoaster just about every time.”
The flight is expected to leave Peoria at around 8:30 A.M. and return about 12 hours later at 8:30 P.M.
