Area veterans to board Honor Flight in Grand Forks, headed to Washington, D.C.

GRAND FORKS – Wendell Sorlien of Grand Forks is looking forward to all the sights he’ll be seeing in Washington, D.C., when he goes on the Veterans Honor Flight of North Dakota-Minnesota.

The flight leaves at 8 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, from Grand Forks International Airport.

“Everything they’ve got lined up is pretty nice,” said Sorlien, a Vietnam vet who served in the U.S. Army. “I’m going. I’m fired up.”

As a member of the East Grand Forks VFW, he has helped raise funds to send vets from this area on the all-expenses-paid trip, during which they’ll be transported by four tour buses around Washington, D.C., to see war memorials and other historic landmarks.

“The VFW in East Grand Forks has given a lot of money to the Honor Flight,” Sorlien said.

Don Roberts is expecting a big, noisy send-off at Grand Forks International Airport on Sunday, when the Honor Flight lifts off, carrying 112 veterans and another 60 others – including family escorts, wheelchair attendants, health care professionals and volunteers – to the nation’s capital.

Twenty-three of the veterans served in Korea, and 89 served in the Vietnam War or the Vietnam Era, said Jane Matejcek, president of the Veterans Honor Flight of ND/MN. There are no WWII vets on this flight, Roberts said.

Among the vets, Robert Selland, an Army veteran from Leeds, North Dakota, will be picked up Sunday by a Grand Forks Fire Department truck at his hotel in northwest Grand Forks and taken to the airport, Roberts said. The arrangements were made with Mayor Brandon Bochenski.

Roberts also wants area residents to go to the airport about 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, to welcome the veterans back to Grand Forks, he said. The flight is expected to arrive at 7 p.m.

“Come out and welcome these heroes,” he said, adding that he expects several hundred people will be on hand.

Fire trucks, law enforcement vehicles and motorcycles will be there to make a lot of noise to stir excitement, Roberts said. “Anything that has sirens, they’ll be there.”

The Grand Forks City Band, 30 members strong, will be playing patriotic music and a water cannon is expected to shoot water over the plane, he said. The airport will be decorated with red, white and blue balloons.

Local church and American Legion groups are making 40 dozen cookies for the welcome-home event, he said.

In planning the events, Roberts said, “every place I’ve gone,” people have been quick to get involved. “It’s amazing the help I’ve gotten.”

On Sunday, police cars will line the route to the airport, with police officers “saluting these guys when they come there,” Roberts said.

In the parking lot, golf cart drivers will take vets from their vehicles to the airport building; military branch recruiters will greet and open doors for them; volunteers will take them by wheelchair, if needed, to the second floor, he said. “Anything they need.”

This is the first time in 13 years that an Honor Flight has flown out of Grand Forks, said Matejcek. Most flights from North Dakota have left from Fargo.

In the past, the flights have left early one day and returned late the next. The itinerary for this Sunday-Tuesday trip has been expanded to include stops at Fort McHenry and the Air and Space Museum, she said.

The veterans, who come from 46 regional towns, include six Air Force veterans, 64 Army veterans, eight Marine veterans and 29 Navy veterans, Matejcek said. “This is the highest number of Navy vets we’ve ever had.”

Three earned the Bronze Star, she said. The group also includes two sets of three brothers, three sets of two brothers, and an uncle and nephew.

They’ll receive jackets, courtesy of American Crystal Sugar Co.; T-shirts and hats; and a spiral-bound notebook with background on each veteran.

Roberts said, “We’re pretty proud we got a flight out of Grand Forks,” noting that vets from all over northeastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota, including some from Cavalier, Mayville and Roseau, will be on board. “It’s the best thing to happen to Grand Forks in a long time.”

He’s quick to credit local business and community support for making the Honor Flight possible. “If they hadn’t given us the money, we’d have never gotten this flight out of Grand Forks,” he said.

The cost to send each vet on the Honor Flight is about $1,600, Matecjek said.

The Veterans Honor Flight program has been active for years. Veterans must apply to participate; those who are very elderly or have serious health issues or terminal illness are given top priority in the application process.

Anyone who has served in the military before May 7, 1975 – including in the National Guard – is eligible, Matecjek said.

For more information, visit www.veteranshonorflightofndmn.org or call (218) 28H-ONOR.

For years, Roberts, aided by his wife Betty, has been a tireless champion for the Veterans Honor Flight of ND/MN, working to raise funds.

He feels gratified to see his efforts to secure an Honor Flight out of Grand Forks come to fruition, he said.

“It’s amazing. The more I do it, the better I feel.”