Stars & Stripes Honor Flight Mission 71 Scheduled for October 7th
The Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks are teaming up to sponsor three planeloads of local veterans on Stars and Stripes Honor Flight’s 71st mission, the “Flight of Champions” scheduled for Saturday, October 7th, 2023. The three flights will honor a total of 221 WWII, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans from northeast, southeastern, and east-central Wisconsin with a one day, all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor, and to experience a full day of honor and thanks for their service to our nation.
“We are honored to be a part of this historic mission with the other pro sports teams from Wisconsin,” said Green Bay Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy. “While we play different sports, we all have great respect for those who have served, and are serving, in our military. We couldn’t be more excited to be asked to play a small role in ensuring these veterans, who are American heroes, have a great day in D.C.”
Early in the morning of October 7, a plane of veterans, guardians, and Green Bay Packers alumni ( Bill Schroeder, Dexter McNabb, and Jared Abbrederis) will depart from Green Bay’s Austin-Straubel International Airport. Simultaneously, two planeloads of veterans, guardians, and representatives from the Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks, will depart from Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport.
When the three planes arrive at Washington Dulles International Airport on flight day, the veterans, their guardians and team representatives will spend the day touring Washington. The tour will include the WWII Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Marine Corps/Iwo Jima Memorial and the Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery.
The final fall 2023 Stars and Stripes Honor Flight will take place on Saturday, November 4. When that flight is complete, Stars and Stripes Honor Flight will have flown 9,477 Veterans on the one-day, free trips of honor to Washington D.C. (since 2008). Stars and Strips has also honored 50 veterans locally who were not able to participate in the flights.
As an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff and no offices, the organization is proud to share that more than $.97 of every donated dollar goes directly to flying and honoring veterans.
Honor Flight is a national program with more than 130 hubs from coast to coast. The WWII Memorial did not open until 2004 and many veterans are unable to visit Washington without assistance. Nationally, hubs in the Honor Flight network have honored over 250,000 veterans with free trips to see their memorials.