Honor Flights take veterans to Washington, D.C., to see the national memorials built in their honor, according to Western N.D. Honor Flight information.

George Masters, Minot, who was on an Honor Flight a year ago, now is an Honor Flight ambassador. Keli Rosselli-Sullivan, also of Minot, will lead the Minot flight’s committee of volunteers.

Masters, a retired U.S. Air Force master sergeant, owns Master Restorations and is longtime president of Dakota Cruisers Car Club. Rosselli-Sullivan is military liaison with the Minot Area Chamber EDC.

Past Western N.D. Honor Flights have flown out of Bismarck. Another Honor Flight hub is based in Fargo – Veterans Honor Flight of North Dakota-Minnesota.

Submitted Photo Congressman Kelly Armstrong, R-ND., talks to veterans and volunteers on the October 2023 Western North Dakota Honor Flight during their visit to National Statutory Hall in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

The Minot flight will be composed of veterans already on the Western N.D. Honor Flight’s waiting list. The list includes several hundred veterans who have applied for an Honor Flight. Applications are first come, first serve, but World War II and Korean War veterans or those diagnosed with a terminal illness are moved up on the list, according to Western N.D. Honor Flight information.

An Honor Flight trip is at no cost to a veteran, according to Western N.D. Honor Flight. The cost covered for each veteran is about $1,800 and includes the flight, hotel, meals and special clothing.

Masters was on an Honor Flight in October 2023.

“It was wonderful. They treat you like a king. You can go with $20 in your wallet and you’ll come back with $20 in your wallet. It costs you zero,” he said.

Masters said the trip involves meeting at the airport early on a Sunday morning to leave on the flight, arriving in Washington about mid or later in the morning and then boarding buses to travel to the various sites.

Submitted Photo North Dakota veterans visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., during a Western North Dakota Honor Flight in April.

A meal is waiting for them when they board the buses.

“When you get on the bus there’s a boxed lunch on the seat. The efficiency is in those boxed lunches,” Masters said. Typically, about 100 veterans are on an Honor Flight.

In early September, Western N.D. Honor Flight, a nonprofit organization based in Bismarck, received a unique donation when an anonymous donor gifted 20,000 bushels of grain that produced a donation of $106,735.18, according to the organization.

“It’s tremendous,” Masters said of the visits to the national memorials in Washington.

A recent Western N.D. Honor Flight took place Sept. 29-30 from Bismarck and included Honor Flight board members, volunteers and medical staff who traveled with the veterans on the two-day trip.

Those who would like to apply to take part in a Western N.D. Honor Flight can fill out an application online or contact Western N.D. Honor Flight.