Donors Keep Honor Flights A Reality For Oklahoma Veterans

Leroy Blackwell is a Vietnam veteran. He served in the U.S. Navy for a year and a half.

"We were in battle situation 28 days out of every month for a year and a half,” he said.

He says nearly 50 years later, it's an honor to be part of a group of veterans slated to take the April 19 honor flight to the nation's capital.

"There's a little bit of misgiving,” Blackwell said. “I wanted to see the Vietnam Wall ever since it became available for public viewing. But … it's going to be a traumatic thing to walk up to that wall and see it stretched out into the distance with all those names on it of people who didn't come back."

Over the years there's been many flights, all  thanks to corporate sponsors, donations and fundraisers like this one in Locust Grove.

It cost roughly $90,000 to make one of these honor flights happen, but when you talk about the flight alone, it costs about $500 a seat.

"It is completely sponsor funded,” Honor Flight Chaplain John Blackwell said. “So those people that can give a $1or 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 we're just so happy."

Blackwell says he's grateful for the people who have helped and continue to help make once-in-a-lifetime trips like this happen.

Oklahoma veterans need your help as new Honor Flights are being organized.

The Oklahoma and Arkansas Honor Flight plans put together another flight to leave in October.

To donate, you can click here.