Freedom Honor Flight No. 31 takes off Saturday from La Crosse with 100 vets to DC

Dave Larsen with Freedom Honor Flight joins to help preview this Saturday’s trip, where they will take about 100 veterans for free to see the war memorials in D.C.

La Crosse Talk airs weekdays at 6-9 a.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.

This is the 31st trip since 2008 the La Crosse hub has been doing the honor flights. Larsen notes one WWII veteran, William Chuchna of Winona, will be on the flight. He turns 99 later this month.

We also talk about the second-most important part of the flight — being there to welcome the vets home, which will take place around 8 p.m. Saturday at the Colgan hangar No. 4, where the public, along with the UW-La Crosse marching band, will be there to cheer.

Lastly, Larsen discusses how any veteran in their region is eligible for the flights. That region includes (more info here):

WISCONSIN COUNTIES:

CRAWFORD
VERNON
LA CROSSE
MONROE
JUNEAU
ADAMS
BUFFALO
TREMPEALEAU
JACKSON
PIERCE
PEPIN
ST. CROIX
DUNN
CHIPPEWA
EAU CLAIRE

MINNESOTA COUNTIES:

DODGE
FILLMORE
FREEBORN
HOUSTON
MOWER
OLMSTED
WABASHA
WINONA

IOWA COUNTIES:

ALLAMAKEE
CHICKASAW
FLOYD
HOWARD
MITCHELL
WINNESHIEK