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Honor Flight Columbus

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VETERAN APPLICATIONS

Honor Flight Columbus currently is accepting applications from WWII and Korean veterans, as well as terminally ill veterans from any era.

WWII veterans will continue to have top priority, but we also fly Korean veterans. We call the veterans on the waiting list in the order that we receive their applications. Sorry, but because of demand, we can not book for particular trips.

To apply to go to your memorials and other related Washington, D.C. sites with us, please
click here.

Print the form/complete it, and mail it to:

Honor Flight Columbus
P.O. Box 12036
Columbus, OH 43212

Phone:(614) 284-4987

Email:
HonorFlightColumbus1@gmail.com

A sample of what the trip means for our senior veterans.

Markleys take Honor Flight

BY DEAN SHIPLEY

StaffWriter

Two brothers who grew up during the Great Depression in Summerford, then served their country during World

War II, received a big thank you over the weekend. Herb and “Perk” Markley, Navy veterans, were among the 79 military veterans who were taken to Washington, D.C. Saturday, April 21, on an honor flight.

The honorees were given a whirlwind tour of monuments (in the nation’s capital) erected to those who served, living and deceased. Among them were the World War II and Iwo Jima monuments, the Navy Monument, Tomb of the Unknown, and Arlington National Cemetery. At the Iwo Jima Monument, Herb Markley said he was mentally transported back to the days when he was on the deck of the battleship USS Texas. He said while he and other sailors disposed of used containers of powder and ammunition, they saw what he believed was the second raising of the flag on Mt. Suribachi.

Iwo Jima was “a little ole place,” where the Allies sustained heavy casualties in taking it. It was a huge victory and morale boost for the Allies in the Pacific. It would cause some heartache for the parents of the boys who fought and died to place on that rock what Markley called the greatest symbol of freedom in the world. Markley said seeing the flag go up on that black mountain “was something else.”

“That flag meant home,” he said. “Mom and dad on the front porch waiting for their sons to come home.”

Markley said his military service of three years was a job he had to do and that was that. There were no thoughts of heroism.

“I did a job,” he said. For that job he was taken to Washington where he said he and his fellow World War II veterans were treated like royalty. “We couldn’t have been treated nicer,” he said. Then came the trip home.

When the Markleys arrived home Saturday evening, though they were tired, their spirits received a lift as they emerged from the plane. A sizable group of London residents had come to Columbus to welcome them back.

War II, received a big thank you over the weekend. Herb and “Perk” Markley, Navy veterans, were among the 79 military veterans who were taken to Washington, D.C. Saturday, April 21, on an honor flight.

“That flag meant home,” he said. “Mom and dad on the front porch waiting for their sons to come home.”

Markley said his military service of three years was a job he had to do and that was that. There were no thoughts of heroism.

“I did a job,” he said. For that job he was taken to Washington where he said he and his fellow World War II veterans were treated like royalty. “We couldn’t have been treated nicer,” he said. Then came the trip home.

When the Markleys arrived home Saturday evening, though they were tired, their spirits received a lift as they emerged from the plane. A sizable group of London residents had come to Columbus to welcome them back.

“Meeting those people was one of the thrills of a lifetime, to be greeted like that getting off that plane,” he said. “I cried.”