Our KNX Hero of the Week, Janet Hewson, is honoring our veterans with a trip of a lifetime!
Hewson, a nurse from Orange County, has volunteered as a guardian on more than a dozen Honor Flights to Washington, D.C., and she was there when the nonprofit Honor Flight Southland was created.
“In 2013, a friend of mine told me about the group in San Diego and that they needed some guardians, and guardians are the people that escort every veteran on a trip to maintain their safety and make sure they're cared for,” Hewson explained to Heroes host Heather Jordan. “So I volunteered as a guardian and went along with that group with a World War II bomber pilot, Ed. He was amazing.”
Hewson said on the trip home, a couple of people talked about how there wasn’t a group serving Orange County, San Bernardino County, or L.A. County.
“Our two co-founders, Luci Miller and Craig Van Doren, got together and started the group,” Hewson continued.
The group celebrated its 10th anniversary and just had mission number 19 in September.
“We've taken 696 veterans to Washington, D.C. to be honored,” she said. “To date, there's been more than 317,000 honor flights nationwide.:
On one of those flights, Hewson was able to take her dad, Frederick Huson.
“My dad served in the army just post-Korea over in Germany, and it kind of brings chills to you when you see their history,” she said.
To date, there have been more than 317,000 honor flights nationwide, and there are 128 of these groups around the nation. All are volunteer nonprofit organizations.
You can learn more about Honor Flights here.
Listen to our full interview with Janet Hewson in the audio above.
Check out all our KNX Heroes here.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok