Springfield Man Leads Charge to Honor Vets

Springfield resident Andrew Schiavello answered the call-after he made a call.

The son of a World War II vet and the nephew of three more vets, Schiavello is now the President of the Philadelphia hub of the Honor Flight Network.

In his own words...  Click on the video clips to hear Schiavello tell the story of Honor Flight Philadelphia.

The organization is on a time-sensitive mission to escort as many WWII vets as possible on a trip to Washington to visit the World War II Memorial on the National Mall.  The mission is time senstive because according to the Honor Flight documentary World War II vets are now dying at the rate of 1,000 per day across the nation.

The Philadelphia Chapter of Honor Flight is planning its next trip for veterans for June 15. Because our area is so close to Washington, local vets go by bus raher than flying.

Schiavello says the group is looking for vets who want to go on the trip and for escorts to accompany them.  Because they are now in their 80's and 90's aach vet on the trip is assigned a personal escort/guardian who is with them from start to finish on the trip.

It costs about $300 to send each vet with a guardian and the organization is actively seeking donations and volunteers. Complete details are available on the HonorflightPhiladelphia.org website.