Reception in Grand Forks left an impression with Honor Flight

Nov. 7—GRAND FORKS — This fall, the first Veterans Honor Flight of North Dakota/Minnesota to leave from Grand Forks in 15 years was so successful that plans for another such venture is in the works, organizers say.

The three-day trip to Washington, D.C., was a tremendous success, said Mike Hagen, who served as one of the escorts, helping veterans get around as they visited numerous military and historic landmarks.

"Vets from all over the (Red River) Valley were on the Honor Flight from Grand Forks. Throughout the trip, they definitely got the red carpet treatment — and they deserved it," Hagen said.

The Red River Valley Motorcyclists club makes major contributions to the Honor Flight. Next May, the RRVM is committed to giving 70% of the proceeds from its annual car and bike show to the flight, said Hagen, who serves on the RRVM board of directors.

The entire cost to send the veterans, and several dozen volunteer escorts and health care aides, is about $200,000, said Don Roberts, RRVM vice president. He and other RRVM leaders are committed to raising more funds so other veterans in this area can have the same experience in Washington, D.C.

About 500 veterans who live in the Red River Valley have applied to go on a future Honor Flight, Hagen said. The date for the next flight out of Grand Forks "depends on how much income we can raise," Roberts said.

In September, 112 veterans — the vast majority of them from the northern Red River Valley — took a Veterans Honor Flight on a three-day, all-expenses-paid trip to the nation's capital.

The reception the veterans received on their return to the Grand Forks Airport on Sept. 13 — with people in the crowd holding welcome signs and the City Band playing patriotic music — was an enthusiastic display of support for the U.S. military that runs deep in this region. The crowd numbered in the hundreds, and the rousing reception had an obvious effect on the veterans as they made their way through the airport after leaving the plane.

"It gives me goosebumps," Mike Reidhammer, member of the American Legion Riders of Larimore, North Dakota, said at the time. He was there to welcome back a friend who is a vet.

Bobby Beauchamp, department commander of the North Dakota Disabled American Veterans (DAV), was impressed "to see the community support" for the veterans, he said. "Hopefully we'll be able to do this (Honor Flight from Grand Forks) again next year."

The event to welcome the return flight "was awesome," Hagen said. "A lot of people were fired up about it."

One of the major fundraisers for the Honor Flight is conducted by the Red River Valley Motorcyclists, especially through the club's annual car and bike show in May, Beauchamp said. "With every raffle ticket we sell, (people) know it's for a good cause."

Beauchamp is also a veteran. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1982 to 1989, and "went right out of boot camp" to Beirut, where a Marine Corps barracks was blown up by an enemy attack, he said.

Over the past four years, the RRVM has donated nearly $120,000 to the Veterans Honor Flight of ND/MN, said Hagen. "We are super-proud about giving that money away."

The club receives support from about 200 sponsors, who also believe in this cause that benefits veterans and what vets have given over decades to ensure freedom in this country.

"I just think of all the sacrifice, being away from your family (for extended periods of time)," Hagen said.

The oldest veterans and terminally ill vets from all wars are given top priority among applicants for the Honor Flight, Roberts said. "If we get a WWII vet, he goes to the front of the line."

Over time, the number of WWII veterans is dwindling, so applications from those vets are diminishing. There were no WWII vets on the September flight from Grand Forks, but there was one on the flight in October out of Fargo, said Roberts, a U.S. Marine veteran.

In recent years, Honor Flights have been filled, more so, with Korean and Vietnam war veterans. But support for area military veterans has not dimmed.

Roberts has been overwhelmed by the response from those he has approached about supporting the Honor Flight that left Grand Forks on Sept. 11 and returned on Sept. 13.

From Mayor Brandon Bochenski and city administrators to local law enforcement, police and fire departments to motorcycle clubs to church groups, he said, "everyone did more than I asked for."

Korean and Vietnam veterans are encouraged to sign up for an Honor Flight, "but a lot of them will step back and say, 'I want somebody else to go,' " Hagen said. "That's just the way they are."

On the recent Honor Flight out of Grand Forks, Hagen served as an escort, pushing the wheelchair for one of the vets. He observed that, for the veterans visiting the war memorials in Washington, "it's very very emotional for a lot of them. ... It's an experience you just never forget, and I think about what it's like for them."

"All I can say is, my hat's off to them," he said. "What a great opportunity for them."

The whole trip was "exciting," he said. "It's the coolest experience I've ever had in my life."

When the flight returned to the Grand Forks Airport on Sept. 13, "there was a heck of a turnout," he remembers. "I was almost in shock."

Anyone who's interested in applying for the Veterans Honor Flight of ND/MN is invited to visit the website,

https://www.veteranshonorflightofndmn.org

(under "more," click on "who can apply"), or call Roberts at (701) 746-8261.

Nov. 11 — Veterans Day: East Grand Forks American Legion will host a free dinner for vets and items will be sold to support the Honor Flight

Nov. 13 — Bingo at Sacred Heart School in East Grand Forks: proceeds will go to support the Honor Flight

Nov. 15 and 18 — Culver's restaurant, Grand Forks: a portion of the sales will go to support the Honor Flight and information on how to sign up for a flight will be distributed