Villages Honor Flight Honoring those who have served and sacrificed
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G ROWING BOLDE R
II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and veterans of any service era who are critically ill. The organization is run by volunteers and funded by donations. In September of 2023, Growing Bolder joined the VHF for Mission 59. Sixty-six veterans ranging in service from World War II to the Gulf War were accompanied by an all-volunteer staff consisting of 66 guardians, six medical staff, a seven-person flight mission team, as well as two videographers and two still photographers. Departing from The Villages, the group flew on a chartered flight from the Orlando Sanford International Airport to Baltimore-Washington Airport. From there, three chartered buses carried the group to Arlington National Cemetery, the Air Force Memorial, and the National Mall for visits to the World War II, Korean, and Vietnam war memorials, all at no cost to the veterans or volunteers.
December 2023 Digest
At 96, Mel Kohn was the oldest to make the trip. He turned 18 in boot camp, the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The vast number of graves in Arlington National Cemetery brought Kohn to tears, and the WWII memorial connected him to the battles that were fought while he was stateside.
“It wasn't just a really nice experience. It just changed everything in my life.” H OWA R D N E W H O F F
Photos Courtesy of Villages Honor Flight
“It wasn't just a really nice experience. It just changed everything in my life.” Even though Howard Newhoff was stationed in Washington, he’d never had the fortitude to go see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall. That is until May of 2022 when he traveled there as part of Villages Honor Flight Mission 52. “All the hostility, all the anger, all the negative feelings I had about the war went away. And I really felt for the first time that people cared that I was over there,” said Newhoff. “I never got tired of the expression, ‘Thank you for your service,’ to this day.” It’s a phrase not all veterans heard following their service, and it’s the sentiment at the heart of the Villages Honor Flight, Inc. (VHF) organization. Formed in July of 2011, the nonprofit operates as one of 125 hubs of the national nonprofit Honor Flight Network with one simple mission – to honor all who served during World War
