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Vets honored with flight to Washington, D.C.

Posted: May 9, 2012 3:04 PM
Updated: May 9, 2012 10:16 PM

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TUCSON-More than two dozen veterans from World War II are now in Washington, D.C. on a special mission.

It's all thanks to the Honor Flight Network.

Two of the veterans on the flight were 93 year olds, and you can just imagine the excitement this trip has brought them.
Veteran George Burpo waved to the crowd cheering on the group of vets as he was wheeled to his flight.

"I was a seaman...I was just a sailor," said Burpo.

He's a proud vet.

"If you love your country go for it," said Burpo.

And like his comrades, can't wait to get to Washington, D.C. to see the World War II Memorial.

"Exciting because I've never seen it before," said veteran Boyd Gillespie

With the help of private donations, Honor Flight of Southern Arizona makes these trips possible so that veterans can see several memorial war sites in D.C.

"I deeply appreciate the trip out here," said Gillepsie.

This time around, 27 veterans get the opportunity.

"Well I'm looking forward to it. I haven't been to Washington D.C. since the monument was put up. I've been there several times before but not since the monument was put up, so I'm looking forward to that and checking a lot of my buddies names that may be on the list that are not here anymore," said US Navy vet Sam Duncan.

150 veterans are on the waiting list for the trip and organizers at Honor Flight said time is running out.

"Time is of the essence. We had two 93 year olds here today so we just need to get it going," said Barb Brownlie with Honor Flight Southern Arizona.

While the organization would love to send all those who have applied to Honor Flight, money is an issue.

They said they need to raise a quarter of a million dollars to fly the rest of the 150 veterans that are on the waiting list to Washington, D.C.

You can help the Honor Flight in several ways.

You can sponsor them, donate, or volunteer.

You can find details on how to help on the program's website:

http://honorflightsaz.org/how_to_help.html

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