Teaming to honor veterans

Eighty-five veterans will fly from Fort Wayne to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to visit memorials built in their honor.

Community foundations from across the northeast corner of the state made it possible.

Spurred by grant applications written by The Portland Foundation, 16 community foundations contributed $112,530 toward the $125,000 cost of sponsoring Northeast Indiana Honor Flight’s 49th flight to the U.S. capital.

Doug Inman, executive director of The Portland Foundation, got the idea for seeking community foundation funding for a flight after making the trip with his dad Roger in 2022.

“At its core, every community foundation exists to enhance the quality of life in their respective communities,” said Inman. “The quality of life that we all do have, that we enjoy as Americans, is provided by the fact that a man or a woman put on a uniform to protect this country in the armed services. So the freedoms that we enjoy, the community that we all enjoy, it’s here because of the people that served in the military …”

Early this year, Inman started the process of writing grant applications to community foundations. Funding requests were based on the number of veterans from each community that had taken honor flights in recent years.

Of the 19 community foundations that were approached, 16 approved funding. They represented foundations from Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Elkhart, Fulton, Grant, Huntington, Jay, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Miami, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley counties.

Contributions ranged from $1,350 for smaller counties to $40,000 split between two contributing foundations in Allen County.

“It was very gratifying to me to see the 15 other community foundations that said, ‘Yes, we agree, this is very important to us also. Our veterans are very important to us,’” said Inman. “We’re excited that this is happening.”

Honor Flight was created in 2004, with the Northeast Indiana chapter following four years later.

The organization, which provides free one-day trips to Washington, D.C., for veterans, originally focused exclusively on the World War II era but now also serves those who were in the military during the Korean War and Vietnam War.

Inman got involved with Honor Flight in 2022 when he served as the “guardian” for his father Roger’s trip. Roger Inman was serving as an airplane and helicopter mechanic in Vũng Tàu, Vietnam, when his twin sons Doug and Dean were born on Veterans Day 1966. He met them for the first time eight months later.

Following his Honor Flight experience with his dad, Inman signed up as a volunteer for the organization, which led to more flights and eventually the effort to raise funds from community foundations.

“When the World War II era men and women see their memorial built for them, you just see the pride in their faces,” Inman said. “The Vietnam wall is especially moving. You see men finding the names of comrades that were killed. … They can do the etching of the name.”

“It's a healing process for many of these men and women,” he added.

He had the opportunity to be part of an Honor Flight last month that included Portland’s Max Blowers.

Portland residents John Hart and Russell White will be on Wednesday’s trip.

The community foundation fundraising effort for Northeast Indiana Honor Flight No. 49 was a first-of-its-kind effort. Typically, the organization has counted on groups such as VFW and American Legion posts as well as businesses like Culver’s restaurants and Phil’s One Stop convenience stores for support. (Phil’s is sponsoring the 50th honor flight in the spring.)

Inman plans to continue to seek support from foundations, noting that there are many private foundations in northeast Indiana that could support Honor Flight. He noted not only the need for funds for the flights themselves but also to replace equipment such as wheelchairs.

“It’s just a really cool organization — a lot of people with huge hearts that just want to serve the veterans, make it special for them,” he said.