Advertisement
Thank you to the Greatest Generation from the generations you ultimately helped save. A grateful nation dedicated the World War II Memorial May 29, 2004. Earl Morse, a physician’s assistant at a Veterans Administration hospital in Springfield, Ohio, realized the aging Greatest Generation would need help getting an opportunity to visit their memorial. That reality gave birth to the first honor flight in 2005, with seven planes and 12 veterans.
Morse was inspired by the emotions of those veterans, as are volunteers working to establish honor flight hubs in all 50 states. I would like to thank the four men who joined me to form the Let Freedom Ring Honor Flight board of directors.
Thank you to the man I’ll call “Dan” for the first donation. Thank you to the men and women who subsequently joined the board. Their hard work and professionalism gave birth to the first honor flight hub city in Wisconsin. Thank you to the honor flight committee in Rochester for its mentoring. Thank you to the honor flight network. Thank you to the volunteers and donors who banded together to thank the World War II veterans of this great country. Thank you to all veterans for their service.
Ralph Jurjens Jr. is founder and regional director of the La Crosse hub of Let Freedom Ring Honor Flight.
The Tribune encourages letters to the editor on current issues. Please limit letters to 250 words or less.
We reserve the right to edit all letters and require that all letters include the name, address and phone number of the writer for verification purposes.
Letter writers will be limited to no more than one letter a month. Please do not send poetry, or items taken from other publication or from the Internet.
Send letters to the editor to letters@lacrossetribune.com.
