Brief delay can’t dampen excitement for first Honor Flight departing Quincy

Published 12:50 pm Thursday, May 21, 2026

QUINCY — Even after 80 completed missions since the first trip, Great River Honor Flight still has room for more firsts.

Thursday saw GRHF load up a jet for Mission 81, but for the first time, the veterans, their escorts (known as Guardians), and Honor Flight staff left directly from Quincy Regional Airport instead of loading a bus for the two-hour drive to St. Louis Lambert Airport.

“I can’t believe we’re actually here,” Carlos Fernandez said. Fernandez is a co-founder of the Great River Honor Flight program. “There’s been a lot of work, a lot of preparation, for this. After 17 years, we’ve finally decided to give this a shot and see how it goes. A lot of hard work behind the scenes and getting it going, but we’re really excited about it.”

The idea to use the Quincy airport as the base for the trips was resurrected when Contour Airlines took over as the provider for Quincy’s Essential Air Service Contract in November 2025. One change from the typical trips to and from St. Louis is the smaller capacity of Contour’s aircraft limiting the number of participants.

The trade-off is the shorter day while still providing a full day of visiting monuments and memorials in Washington, D. C.

“The difference between a two-hour bus trip down to St. Louis and a 20-minute bus trip to the airport here at Quincy is unbelievable,” Fernandez said.

Buddy Osbon of Kahoka, Mo. is a veteran of the first Gulf War, and is one of the veterans taking the no-cost trip to the nation’s capital. Since the program started, more than 2,500 veterans have had the trip covered for them through donations.

Guardians, most often a family member escorting a parent, sibling, or friend, pay a small fee to join the trip.

Osbon said if it wasn’t for the Honor Flight, he doesn’t believe this was a trip he would ever take on his own.

“I don’t know that I would ever see the sights that we’re going to see had it not been with Honor Flight,” Osbon said. “I don’t think I would ever have traveled to see them. So I appreciate the Honor Flight people, the ones that have put it together all these years.”

Stops during the single-day trip include visits to the Vietnam Wall, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War and WWII memorials, and the U.S. Marine Corps / Iwo Jima monument among others. But one stop on the itinerary stands out more than the others for Osbon.

“The Changing of the Guard at Arlington nice and cemetery,” he said. “I think that’s going to be the highlight. For me, I don’t know about anyone else.”

The guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, always a solemn reminder of the men and women that made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the nation, will be especially poignant heading into Memorial Day weekend.

Even before the wheels left the ground, Osbon gave his full endorsement to anyone considering taking part in future missions.

“It’s something that you should absolutely take advantage of if you’re a veteran,” he said. “I think it’s a great honor, and I think it’s something to take advantage.”

As almost anyone that’s spent any time in the military can attest, thing rarely go off exactly as planned, and Thursday was a perfect example when the flight was delayed around 45 minutes due to a technical issue with the aircraft.

The issue was quickly resolved by Contour’s maintenance team before getting the trip underway.

“This is our 81st flight,” Fernandez said. “It’s amazing that I’m here telling you that there are certain things about this flight that I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”

The sixteen veterans and the supporting participants are expected to reboard the plane for a 6:30 p.m. (Central) return flight with arrival expected back in Quincy just after 8:30 p.m. Thursday evening.