** Honor Flight-Send-Off/Welcome Home,

Tri-State Airport, Huntington, WV 11 May 13 **

 

  The Patriot Guard Riders have been asked to participate at a very special event. This will be the first Honor Flight mission in West Virginia, and we are very excited to be able to honor our WWII and Korea veterans on their special day. These will be flag line-only missions at The Tri-State Airport (HTS) in Huntington, WV; we will have a send-off mission as the heroes depart, and a welcome home for them when they arrive back to HTS later that night.

  These heroes will be arriving individually at the airport, and some of them will need assistance getting inside the terminal. I have offered our services in helping these heroes in any way we can, and the Honor Flight Director is most appreciative. We will be helping to get the heroes to the proper registration table, and assisting them in any way we can; this may involve helping them to the aircraft since HTS does not have jetways. There are currently 89 WWII and Korea veterans scheduled to participate in this Honor Flight.

This is a two-part mission; you can choose either the morning or evening mission, but if your schedule will allow you to make it to both, it would be great. Remember to bring your 3×5 flags. Parking locations will be finalized next week, so be sure to check this thread for updates prior to the 11th.

 

Staging information for the Send-off is as follows:

 

Location:  Tri-State Airport, Huntington, WV (just off Exit 1 on I-64) https://tinyurl.com/c5tgvq8

Time:  0530-0545, mission brief @ 0550 (veterans will begin arriving at 0600)

Details:  We will assist with, unloading, registration, set up a flag line for boarding, and may need to assist with helping vets to board around 0700. When all vets have boarded, the mission will terminate (approx. 0745).

 

Staging information for the Welcome Home is as follows:

 

Location:  Same, but staging for the return will be in a different physical location at the airport (General Aviation ramp).

Time:  1945-2000

Details: We may need to help with the de-planing of the vets, we will be allowed to set the flag line at the airplane upon their arrival, and may need to help hand out gifts that will be presented to each returning veteran.

 

Current RCIC (subject to change): Buddy Palla, WVPG ASC-South, 304-610-1324