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QC Honor Flight #52

Another group of veterans is preparing to visit Washington D.C. Organized by Honor Flight of the Quad Cities, more than 90 will participate next week (4/12), and spend the day visiting the monuments in their honor.

Honor Flight Hub Director Steve Garrington says making trip on Tuesday will be veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, mainly from Henry, Knox, Mercer, Warren, and Stark counties.

The first flight from the Quad Cities was in 2008, and he's traveled on about 20 so far.

"One of things we like to do is say what was the best part, what did you think, what do you want to remember and then we hear their stories. To me the best part of it is listening to the veterans and hearing their stories."

The day-long trip includes stops at the three war memorials, plus the Marine Corps and Air Force memorials, and Arlington National Cemetery.

The veterans will take off from the Quad Cities International Airport about 7 am, and return about 10 pm.

"The wonderful thing is a lot of people from the Quad Cities will come to the airport and greet the veterans as they come back. There'll be cheering, applause, and hugging. It's a wonderful time, a time to say 'thank you' to these guys. Some of them weren't thanked 30, 40, 50 years ago."

With the veterans will be 60 "guardians" - friends, family, and volunteers who'll provide assistance all day.

Community
A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois. While a graduate student in the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield (then known as Sangamon State University), he got his first taste of public radio, covering Illinois state government for WUIS. Here in the Quad Cities, Herb worked for WHBF Radio before coming to WVIK in 1987. Herb also produces the weekly public affairs feature Midwest Week – covering the news behind the news by interviewing reporters about the stories they cover.