HonorAir Knoxville Flight 35 will depart Crossville via motor coach with 11 women veterans and two local escorts on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 4:30 a.m. to visit the military memorials in Washington, DC. Transportation to McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville is provided by Premier Transportation. There will be 141 women veterans on Flight 35 traveling on an American Airlines charter plane. The veterans from Crossville are Eileen Blackburn, Deborah Connors, Patricia Paschick and Patricia Kessler, Air Force; Patricia Brassier, Marine Corps; Greta Wilkinson, Lora Wehrmann and Terri Costa, U.S. Army; and Martha Wilson, Jenifer Kamperschroer and Donna Lacy, U.S. Navy. The escorts are Lynne Strasser, Chelsea Murphy and Gus Gocella.
Motor coach transportation will depart from the rear parking area of the Holiday Inn on Peavine Rd. and return the evening of Sept. 25 around 8:30 p.m. Veterans organizations, first responders, fraternal organizations, families and friends are invited to be part of the welcome home celebration in Crossville. Mark Sczublewski, trumpet player for the Community Band, will play taps after the veterans and escorts deboard the coach. First responders will display the large American flag over Peavine Rd. as the bus is escorted off of I-40 to the rear parking lot of the Holiday Inn and the welcome home celebration. Many veterans didn’t receive a “welcome home” from their overseas deployments and this flight with the welcome home may help heal some of the wounds that cannot be seen.