Wednesday, September 14, 2016

We Energies Honor Flight flies this Saturday

We’re proud to again partner with Stars and Stripes Honor Flight (SSHF) for the organization’s 35th mission to Washington, DC. We Energies is sponsoring a flight this Saturday for 88 local WWII and Korean War veterans as they head to our nation’s capital to see their memorials. 

“We’ve supported this special program, the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, since it began in 2008, and we are especially proud to have sponsored this flight,” said Kevin Fletcher, president of We Energies.

24 WWII veterans and 60 Korean War veterans will be on Saturday’s flight, along with four terminally ill Vietnam War veterans. Each veteran will travel with a guardian who will serve as a trained companion during the journey. Two We Energies employees will serve as guardians on the trip, including Kevin Harrison, a former member of U.S. Special Operations Forces who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan.

“I look forward to the opportunity in front of me,” said Harrison, an electric distribution controller. “I hold great esteem for those who have served, but especially those who served in WWII and Korea, given the comparisons between warfare then, and warfare now. It is amazing and humbling to consider what past veterans endured in service to our country.”

Our employees and their family members wrote letters 
to veterans.
We Energies has supported several Honor Flights. Our employees are again writing letters to veterans who will be on board the flight. Veterans will participate in “mail call” where they receive letters from family, friends, and even strangers. We’ve collected more than 160 letters to be handed out.

“Mail call is one of the most powerful moments of the entire Honor Flight day,” said Karyn Roelke of Stars and Stripes Honor Flight. “Our veterans can’t stop smiling through their tears as they read the letters. They take the mail home and then read and re-read the letters, over and over again. Recently, we were even told of an Honor Flight veteran who asked to be buried with his mail call letters.”

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