Local Veterans Celebrated With Honor Flight
Veterans Ernest Bach, left, and Roy Whittenburg, right, were greeted at Blue Grass Airport by SKRECC Energy Services/Member Engagement Manager Alan Coffey
It was one of the most memorable days of their already memorable lives.
For the eleventh year, South KY RECC and other Kentucky Touchstone Energy Cooperatives joined together to sponsor Honor Flight and nearly 70 Kentucky veterans. The heroes were welcomed home on September 17 by a crowd of more than one thousand at Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport.
Two veterans from within the South Kentucky RECC service territory participated in this year’s journey. Ernest Bach and Roy Whittenburg, both Vietnam War veterans from Pulaski County, participated in the one-day tour of war memorials in the nation’s capital.
The flight also carried two World War II veterans and two women veterans, who were inducted into the Military Women’s Memorial during the trip.
The 2022 mission was again coordinated by Winchester-based Honor Flight Kentucky. “It’s a privilege to be able to fly these veterans to their memorials, and it’s an opportunity to serve them in some small way to repay their service to our nation and our community,” said Joe Settles, Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Member Services Manager.
“Honor Flight is a significant part of Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperative’s commitment to our local communities,” Settles said.
As in the past, veterans flew from Lexington to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., where they boarded buses for a full day of honors and sightseeing.
The day included viewing the changing-of-the-guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. Honor Flight representatives participated in a wreath-laying service at the tomb.
For more information on Honor Flight, visit www.honorflightky.org.
