APPLETON, Wis. (WBAY) – Thirty War on Terror veterans from Wisconsin are on their way to New York City at the time of this writing to attend memorial services for the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The veterans met in Appleton Wednesday morning to board a bus to the Milwaukee airport.
The trip is with Missions of Honor, a special extension of its Freedom to Liberty retreats that began in 2023.
Those retreats feature meetings and talks with 9/11 survivors and first responders from the FDNY, NYPD and Port Authority police.
Those organizations invited Missions of Honor to be a part of the 25th anniversary memorials.
“When it was floated about coming out for 9/11, we thought, nah, too busy, not really the right fit. We want to make sure that we don’t take away from the whole spirit of what 9/11 is all about, and that’s about survivors, their families and those that have fallen,” Missions of Honor executive director Diane MacDonald said.
“But as we started working a little bit more with some of the groups with the FDNY, they really were excited of the possibility of us bringing some veterans out there. And that’s really — they planted the seed, and we really just kind of took it in a little bit of a different direction.”
That “different direction” is that all 30 of the veterans on this trip are or have been first responders in their civilian lives.
In the video above, Chris Roth talks with these veterans and the organization and highlights how much of an impact these trips to New York have had on veterans’ mental health.
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