What Are Honor Flight Letters?

Honor Flight letters are letters, cards and general messages from friends, family members, students and ordinary citizens to veterans traveling to national memorials on flights arranged by the Honor Flight Network. The letters express gratitude and admiration for the sacrifices made by the veterans who fought in wars defending the nation.

The American Warriors Organization administers the letter program and provides instructional packets containing letter samples, templates and examples of how the letters touch the veterans who receive them to guide the letter-writing activities of students and letter-writing groups, as well as lists of names and branches of service to whom to address the letters. The Honor Flight letters are assembled into packets of mail that are presented on the Day of Honor, which coincides with the day of the Honor Flight, during a segment known as Mail Call that is a mock version of the mail calls the veterans experienced during their time of service.

Honor Flights are flights arranged by the Honor Flight Network, a nonprofit organization with the mission to arrange for veterans who fought in the nation’s wars to travel to Washington, D.C. to visit the respective monument of the war in which they fought and reflect upon their experiences. The organization provides air transportation from the veteran’s closest regional hub located in nearly every state. Each hub has a guardian organization that accepts applications for flights and sends representatives to travel with the flight to assist the veterans. The veteran or someone who knows him may submit an application for an Honor Flight. World War II veterans and those facing terminal illnesses receive top priority and the organization is accepting applications from veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars, as of December 2015.

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