Seventy-nine Ozarks veterans flew to Washington on the last Honor Flight of the year

Seventy-nine veterans from Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma left Springfield-Branson National Airport before dawn on Wednesday for the last Honor Flight of the Ozarks trip of 2026, KOLR reported. The veterans served in the Korean War and Vietnam War eras, and the day is free for them. Stops included the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

U.S. Army veteran Jerry Parks said he was elated and had not expected to be going. He said he had not been to Washington in many years. Volunteer Dale Banks said the meaning, for him, is seeing these men thanked in person for what they did, and he called the trip a kind of peacemaker. Since 2014 the hub has flown more than 2,400 veterans to the capital at no charge. The station asked the public to line the main terminal around 8 p.m. with flags and applause. That report went up in the morning, so it covers the flight out and the welcome still to come, not a count of the crowd that night.