St. Charles hosts Honor Flight documentary

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff Writer

When the documentary, “Honor Flight: One Last Mission,” was released last year and shown at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Burlington resident Jenny Nice made sure to go.

She took her family – and was amazed.

“It was just so extraordinary,” she said. “Just seeing the way it touched peoples’ lives was just extraordinary.”

The 90-minute documentary, which chronicles several World War II veterans as they take their daylong trip to Washington D.C. to see the various sites and memorials in their honor, inspired Nice to do more.

And that “more” will happen Sunday at the St. Charles Activity Center in Burlington. The documentary will be shown at 2 p.m.

A free-will offering will be accepted to help fund future Honor Flights, and the Nice expect a large crowd – including possibly one of the men featured in the documentary.

“If we can get a couple of hundred (people), I’ll be really happy,” said Michael Nice. “It should be filled.”

Fox River State Bank stepped forward to cover the licensing fee to show the film publicly, and the Nices are excited about sharing the story of the Honor Flights.

“We need to get people to see this and remember it,” she said. “They’re older and slipping away, and their story needs to be told.”

The World War II generation is rapidly leaving the Earth, and the documentary helps show what volunteers have done to get the veterans out to Washington D.C. to see the memorial done in their honor.

The event involves flying the veterans to Washington with an escort, and there are 117 hubs around the country, including Milwaukee – the center shown in the documentary.

One thousand World War II veterans die every day, and the Honor Flight is often their last trip. The volunteers are fighting a battle against time – and age and disease, as shown in the documentary – to get the veterans their experience.

As Jenny Nice explained, these men and women did was John F. Kennedy asked of the country in the 1960s – not what your country can do for you, but you can do for your country.

“These men and women lived what JFK said,” she explained. “They lived it. They did it.”

The event at St. Charles on Sunday will feature the presentation of colors by Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Vets, the American Legion and the Marine Corps League, the national anthem performed by Max Proctor and a welcome and prayer by Sister Margaret – the principal at St. Charles.