Honor Flight Plea
By: Ashley Zilka
Updated: June 18, 2012
On Sunday, another successful Honor Flight mission returned back to Rochester.
"Beautiful. I never expected it was going to be so wonderful. As a matter of a fact, for me, it was emotional. I'm very happy. I'm happy I went through this," said Raymond Pannone, World War II veteran.
Pannone was part of Mission 23. He along with more than 40 other veterans traveled to Washington D.C. to see the World War II Memorial.
This was an extra special trip for Raymond. His son was able to travel with him.
"You know it's kind of cool to do this Honor Flight thing in the first place. To get to learn a little more about what my dad did in the war and get to hang out with all these great old guys. It couldn't have been any better by doing it on Father's Day, it was so touching," said Don Pannone.
Honor Flight wants other fathers like Raymond to experience the same. It's a plea to get more veterans on more flights. They say time is running out.
"We are right now losing 1,100 to 1,300 veterans a day, World War II veterans, it is our mission to get every single one of the World War II veterans that we can on these flights. It's an immediate, emergency almost, of trying to get these veterans on the flights," said C.P. Maloney, Honor Flight Volunteer.
About 1,200 veterans have already taken the trip to Washington. It's about honoring their service whether it's Father's Day or any day.
"To have picked Father's Day weekend to go down and celebrate and visiting the World War II Memorial and all the other memorials is just the best Father's Day I have ever experienced," said Peter Sullivan, son of World War II veteran.
Honor Flight continues to add names for flights. If you are interested, you can sign up at
honorflightrochester.org.
