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Next Honor Flight to Leave from Okaloosa County
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NW FL Daily News, October 28th, 2008
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Next Honor Flight to leave from Okaloosa County
Comments 4 | Recommend 1
Northwest Florida Regional Airport will make travel easier for some World War II vets, says U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller
October 20, 2008 - 12:05AM
Mona Moore
Daily News
Like many local veterans on Wednesday's Honor Flight, Sallye Thaler had to spend the night in Pensacola to ensure she'd make the 5:30 a.m. flight check-in.
Thanks to a car wreck and evening traffic, the trip from her home in Niceville to her hotel took three hours.
"Needless to say, I slept well," she said.
After the daylong tour of Washington, D.C., Thaler spent another night in Pensacola.
"I'm too old to drive at night after a day like this," the 90-year-old veteran said.
The next Honor Flight will be a little easier on local veterans. The group will fly out of Northwest Florida Regional Airport in April.
The Emerald Coast Honor Flight is open to veterans from Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Washington and Holmes counties.
With senior and terminally ill veterans taking priority in the nonprofit organization's selection process, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller said Okaloosa's central location was ideal. By comparison, 47 of Wednesday's Honor Flight veterans were from Pensacola and only one hailed from Chipley.
"We want to give veterans in the eastern part of the district a little more ease in getting there in the morning," said Miller, hon-orary chairman of the Emerald Coast Honor Flight's board of directors.
About 200 veterans have taken the Honor Flight and more than 400 applicants are still waiting for their trip.
It costs about $100,000 and countless hours of planning to send 102 heroes to the Capital.
"The list, instead of getting smaller, continues to grow," said Tom Rice, an Honor Flight board member. "We're not going to stop until every World War II veteran has had his chance to go."
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