CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Local veteran takes Honor Flight

Claremore Daily Progress - 4/21/2022

Apr. 21—U.S. Army and Navy Chaplain Stephen Hager was one of 90 veterans on the first Oklahoma Honor Flight in two years, after the flights were halted because of COVID-19.

The Honor Flight program is a nation-wide network dedicated to providing veterans a free trip to Washington, D.C. to visit memorials honoring their service and sacrifice, according to oklahomawarriors.org.

Hager took the Honor Flight out of Tulsa and landed in Washington D.C. where they spent the day visiting several memorials. The veterans were treated to nice meals and a hotel room for themselves and their wives, Hager said.

Hager was brought to tears discussing the significance of the flight.

"The statues came alive," Hager said. "We were welcomed by people from all walks of life."

Hager said it was especially touching seeing the amount of young people to welcome the veterans at the nation's capital.

"You are our hope," Hager said. "We sacrificed so that you would be free so that you could teach those liberties...The future lies within you."

Hager graduated from Tulsa East Central High School in 1970 and received a congressional appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He broke his neck and back doing drills at the academy and enlisted into the Army Infantry in Ft. Lewis, Washington.

Hager also spent many years in Claremore as the Santa for Dickens on the Boulevard.

___

(c)2022 the Claremore Daily Progress (Claremore, Okla.)

Visit the Claremore Daily Progress (Claremore, Okla.) at claremoreprogress.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.