MOAA Central Ohio Chapter supports the Honor Flight program through our members who volunteer to support Honor Flight Columbus and the Honor Flight Network. Our members donate their time and personal resources to help keep this veterans program flying high. Some of our World War II members have been on the receiving end of this great program which honors our senior veterans as well as terminally ill veterans of any wartime service…all at no cost to the honored veterans.

Chapter members are involved in every aspect of the program…from fund raising to cover the cost of each flight…to escorting the veterans on their Honor Flight. Each veteran’s escort is called a ‘Guardian’ by Honor Flight and pays his or her own way to escort the honored veteran so the honored veteran can participate at no cost. Each honored veteran is assigned his or her own Guardian to make certain he or she wants for nothing from the time they arrive at the airport to the time they return to be welcomed home by their family members at the end of their Honor Flight.

The Columbus hub is one of an extensive network of hubs in the United States and is one of the oldest and most active. There will be seven Honor Flights from the Columbus hub this year. Each Columbus Honor Flight consists of 80 to 85 veterans, each with his or her own Guardian. The Honor Flight day begins when the volunteer Ground Crew arrives at 4:00 AM. Guardians arrive at 4:30 AM and the senior veterans arrive at 5:00 AM to be welcomed by the Ground Crew and their assigned Guardians. From 5:00 AM until the Honor Flight returns to Columbus at 9:00 PM, each veteran and Guardian will be together. From 4:00 AM until the last Honor Flight wheelchair is stored at approximately 11:00 PM the Ground Crew will be working behind the scenes to make certain each Honor Flight is “one of the best days” of each senior veteran’s life!

Click HERE to learn more and click HERE to support this important program.