PLATTSBURGH — The final flights for the 2024 North Country Honor Flight season will take off on Saturday amidst plenty to celebrate about the program.
The day will feature once again, “Thunder in the Burgh,” a pack of motorcycles and emergency vehicles escorting the worthy veterans to the send-off ceremony and then to Plattsburgh International Airport for their journey.
It will be the last Thunder in the Burgh organized by the original architect, Lloyd Provost, who will be passing his duties on after Saturday.
“Any vet will tell you that the motorcycle escort means as much to many of these veterans as their trip to Washington does,” North Country Honor Flight Executive Director Barrie Finnegan said.
“It means a lot to their families too when they see their veteran honored and get the special treatment they so deserve.”
For Provost’s final mission, organizers are hoping to attract a pack of 250 motorcycles and vehicles for the escort, which begins in the pre-dawn hours as they round up veterans going on the trip, and deliver them to the U.S. Oval Veteran’s Park for the send-off ceremony at 7 a.m.
“We could never thank Lloyd enough for all his years of organizing these escorts,” Finnegan said.
“He has truly brought this part of North Country Honor Flight to a whole new level.”
Flights 58 and 59 on Saturday will carry 30 veterans and their guardians to Washington, D.C. to visit war memorials in their honor. The flights will return to Plattsburgh International Airport at 8:30 p.m. for a welcome home greeting at Veterans Park.
On board these flights will be three Korean War veterans and many Vietnam veterans.
STATE GRANT
North Country Honor Flight is also celebrating a grant of $100,000 it received from the state through the efforts of Assemblyman D. Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake).
Jones presented a check for the amount to Finnegan and other North Country Honor Flight officials at a ceremony Friday at Lake City Choppers in Plattsburgh.
“He (Jones) has done a great job for us and this allows us to breathe a little easier,” Finnegan said.
“We are not totally comfortable, but we are breathing a little easier.”
North Country Honor Flight has been flying veterans to Washington since 2013 having taken a total of 885 from World War II vets to vets from the Korean War, Vietnam, Cold War and some from Desert Storm and other conflicts.
Flights are expensive, Finnegan said, costing about $35,000 for each.
Veterans fly free, and the organization relies on donations and fund-raisers to pay for trips.
“This is the first time we’ve gotten money from the state,” Finnegan said.
“We’ve gotten some help from Clinton, Essex and Franklin Counties, which is nice, but this is the first time we got something from the state, and it is a big help. Billy gets a lot of requests for funding so we are very grateful that he was able to help us with this.”
Finnegan said North Country Honor Flight Executive Officer Jerika Manning played a big role in helping land the state funding.
“Everyone thinks it’s easy to apply for a grant, but there is a lot of work to do and she did a great job with that,” he said.
Fund-raising efforts will continue throughout the year.
“We have to do a lot of fundraisers and thankfully the North Country always comes through when we do,” Finnegan said.
“It can be tough to keep up, but we’ve got to do it if we want to keep sending our veterans on these trips.”
SPONSORSHIPS
Flight sponsorships are available for a donation of $12,000.
“We are thrilled to have both these flights (58 and 59) sponsored for the first time,” Finnegan said.
The Dutil family and D and D Meats will be sponsoring Flight 58 through their fundraiser “Bumpkins Halloween” held last year, and again this year starting on Oct. 18.
“Thanks go out to Shane Dutil and all the volunteers he recruits for pulling off such a wonderful event,” Finnegan said.
Flight 59 is being sponsored by the Redford American Legion Post 1618.
The Legion, Legion Riders, Legion Auxiliary and Sons of the Legion have all made the sponsorship possible, Finnegan said.
This is the second flight Post 1618 has sponsored.
“The weather is supposed to be nice on Saturday and we hope to have a big crowd for our final flights of the year to give these veterans a day they will remember forever,” Finnegan said.
“They deserve it.”