Organizers push to restart Honor Flights

In order for a new, local Honor Flight program to take off, two war veterans and a motivational speaker are among a small but committed group fighting for donations.

The goal of Honor Flight of the Ozarks, led largely by author, speaker and group board member Walt Cameron, is to raise at least $250,000 to fund three flights to Washington, D.C., for veterans who served after World War II.

Cameron said the group, which formed in February but is not currently organized as a 501(c)3, has received about half the pledges it needs from businesses and individuals to plan flights beginning next spring.

The effort is a resurrection of work done by Ozarks Honor Flight, a group KY3 Inc. formed in 2009 that took 1,200 veterans on 16 flights to the U.S. capital to visit the World War II memorial and other landmarks. The group’s last flight was June 6, 2012.

Though the Honor Flight of the Ozarks board is not fully formed, it has early participation from Evans & Green LLP law partner Douglas Evans and Golden Wings Parachute Team Foundation Inc. President Christopher Stark, also an attorney.

“We are all of the same belief that every veteran deserves the same experience that was given to the World War II veterans,” Cameron said, noting he began to cull support for the idea after he sponsored veteran Jack Hamlin on a June 6, 2011, flight. “What folks don’t realize is that the Korean War veterans are typically only about five years younger than those who served in World War II. They are older, too, and leaving us, so we want to make sure we get those guys [on flights] and then we are working our way up to Vietnam veterans, as well.

“We’d even like to see the Gulf War and current veterans have an opportunity, too, because they all deserve it.”

Cameron said the flights cost $85,000 apiece, and the group expects to workwith Sun Country Airlines and fly out of Springfield-Branson National Airport.

Cameron is coordinating with World War II veterans Hamlin and Max Lilly to talk in local schools about the importance of the trips. He said much of the funds donated for previous flights were raised by the families of schoolchildren across southwest Missouri.

Hamlin and Lilly, both in their early 90s, say they were deeply touched to participate in previous honor flights to the District of Columbia, and they want to do what they can to extend the experience to others. Members of the group said crowds gathered both in Springfield and on Capitol Hill to show their appreciation for the servicemen.

“We want to continue that legacy,” said Cameron, who is president of American Financial Educators and earlier this year published an electronic book titled, “Yes! The American Dream is Alive and Well,” through Amazon Digital Services.

The effort comes on the heels of business practices by one group in Kansas City promoting similar flights that garnered a lawsuit from Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.

On Oct. 16, Koster announced his office had reached a settlement with Kansas City-based Kendallwood Hospice Co. following a lawsuit the office brought against the nonprofit for its refusal to return donations belonging to Honor Flight Network of Kansas City Inc.

In the settlement, Kendallwood Hospice is returning more than $38,000 it held in honor-flight donations. According to Koster’s office, Kendallwood was holding donations in a separate bank account for the Honor Flight Network of Kansas City. However, in February, Kendallwood removed the Honor Flight Network’s president and treasurer from the signature card for the account and opened a new account, leaving Honor Flight unable to access its funds. Despite repeated requests to turn over the donations, the funds were not relinquished, which resulted in the cancellation of a June 6 flight that would have taken 54 veterans to the nation’s capital.

Stark said when local donations are collected, they would be held in a separate bank account connected to the foundation for the Golden Wings Parachute Team, an exhibition group of precision parachute jumpers who work to educate people about armed forces parachuting.

“The way things are with 501(c)3s, it is a one- to two-year process to get one (established), so the group is going to piggyback through me to set up its own bank account,” said Stark, who is listed on secretary of state records as the registered agent for Honor Flight of the Ozarks. “There will be no mixing or commingling of funds. Checks are made payable to the Honor Flight of the Ozarks.”

Cameron said the attorneys committed to the Honor Flight board will ensure donations are securely handled and appropriately distributed. He said donations wouldn’t be collected until there are enough pledges in place to cover three flights of around 150 veterans and volunteers.

In promoting the flights, Cameron is known to show a 12-minute video on his smartphone of the reception the veterans received when they returned from a D-Day memorial trip to Washington, D.C., in 2011.

Hamlin, a member of a U.S. Coast Guard effort that helped 1,500 soldiers off the shores of Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, acknowledged he cried when he saw the support.

“I cried all the way through the line,” Hamlin said, smiling when he recalled that half a dozen ladies gave him kisses. “I would go again as a sponsor. Anything I can do to help. The honor flight is a wonderful experience for any veteran, regardless of what war he was in.”