Sporting Clays event to support Honor Flights

By CINDY THOMAS, Staff Writer

Honor Flight of the Ozarks invites the community to join in shooting for a good cause on Saturday, September 24, 2022. Individual and team shooters can participate in a sporting clays competition to be held at Ozark Shooters Complex, with proceeds going toward funding Honor Flights.

Honor Flight of the Ozarks is dedicated to acknowledging and thanking honorably discharged veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam era, and Gulf War by flying them to Washington, D.C., to view the national memorials in their honor. Three flights are scheduled yearly, with capacity for 82 veterans and 82 accompanying guardians.

In addition to visiting all the military memorials, the full-day tour stops at the Lincoln Memorial and attends a Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. From the airport in Washington, veterans board four buses, each staffed with a medical team and equipped with wheelchairs and other aids to ensure each honoree is safe and cared for. Flights leave early in the morning from Springfield and return late at night to a welcome ceremony held at the airport. For some, this is the first celebratory homecoming they have received for their service.

The program receives no government funding; flights are funded entirely by donations in order to provide them free of charge to veterans and at a cost of only $500 for accompanying guardians. With the rental of the plane and buses, plus meals, each flight can cost up to $150,000, a small price compared to the sacrifices made by the honorees, many of whom would not be physically or financially able to make such a trip otherwise. Family, friends and churches are often willing and eager to chip in on the cost for guardians.

A flight scheduled for August 23 is already at capacity; the next is scheduled for October 25. A spokesman for the group said that since some veterans who were scheduled for flights that had to be canceled during COVID-19 restrictions are now being rescheduled, flights fill quickly. People applying now can likely plan on a 2023 trip; however, any terminally ill veteran is moved to the top of the list.

For an application form for a flight, or to register for the September fundraising shoot, email mail@honorflightoftheozarks.org, or call 417-268-9052.