(File photo)
The seventeenth Honor Flight is taking veterans from Central Wisconsin Airport to Washington D.C. to see the monuments built in their honor today. While the vets make the trip, fundraising continues at home. One of the upcoming fundraiser’s is a new event this coming Saturday.
Portage County Veterans Service Officer Michael Clements says the event will be a softball game at Mancheski Field in Bukolt Park. “It’s going to be the Police Department versus the Fire Department, and the name of the event is Guns and Hoses.”
Along with the family fun, the police department’s M-RAP vehicle will be on display, and the Plover and Stevens Point fire departments will have the flag displayed between two ladder trucks.
Clements says veterans will be getting involved as well as the police and firemen. “The first pitch is going to be a veteran from each period of conflict from World War II forward, throwing the first pitch out to a veteran who will receive at home plate, so you could essentially have a World War II veteran throwing the first pitch to an Iraqi Freedom veteran.”
The softball game admission is free, but donations to the Honor Flight program are welcome. Proceeds from concessions and a raffle all go to the program.
Clements says this is the first local fundraiser they’ve held this year, but they have come up with private and corporate donations totalling about $40,000 for the Honor Flights. It takes about $500 to send each veteran to Washington D.C. for the day.
WSAU