by Tim Froberg
LOCAL ORGANIZATION MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR VETERANS
Military veterans often need closure, peer support, reflection, and validation to heal emotional wounds that linger long after their days of service.
Missions of Honor helps them achieve that.
The Appleton-based nonprofit organization does everything in its power to assist veterans in northeast Wisconsin with post-war trauma. It was formerly known as Old Glory Honor Flight but rebranded in January to reflect expanded services for veterans.
Old Glory Honor Flight — which provides veterans who served prior to May 7, 1975, with a free flight to Washington. D.C., to visit memorials built in their honor — remains a significant part of the organization, which has added more trips and events to accommodate additional war veterans.
Missions of Honor is now the umbrella organization for Old Glory Honor Flight and all of its programs. It is a prominent, independent regional hub of the national Honor Flight Network.
“We’re a very evolving group and we’ve grown,” said Missions of Honor executive director Diane MacDonald.
Missions of Honor is offering at least six honor flights in 2026 at no cost to participating veterans. Four of them are one-day Old Glory Honor Flights to Washington for World War II, Korea, and Vietnam veterans.
Two of the honor flights are Freedom to Liberty Retreats for veterans of the Global War on Terrorism, who served in combat or direct support of it in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere in the Middle East.
The Freedom to Liberty Retreats — first offered in 2023 — take veterans on a three-day trip to New York City to visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, the Statue of Liberty, and the Freedom Tower (formerly known as the World Trade Center), while hearing directly from 9/11 first responders and distinguished veterans.
A new special missions trip planned for later this year is expected to fly World War II veterans to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the attack on the military base.
A Desert Shield and Desert Storm Flight of Honor to Washington to visit the DSDS Memorial at the National Mall is also in the works for 2026 once the memorial is completed in the fall.
All of the flights and travel excursions include the availability of the Missions Medical Corps: trained medical volunteers who accompany the veterans to ensure their safety. The trips also include transportation, lodging (if necessary), guides, meals, and professional photographers. The trips conclude with welcome-home celebrations at the airport.
Missions of Honor also offers retreats and bus trips for veterans to hear guest speakers and visit military-related sites and items, such as the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall.
In addition, Missions of Honor provides home visits for veterans who are unable to travel and puts together fundraising events to support trips. The next Missions of Honor event is scheduled for June 2 at the Swan Club in De Pere. It is a dinner program featuring guest speaker Will Jimeno, one of only 20 survivors rescued from Ground Zero following the Sept. 11 attacks.
“All of our projects are our way — and our communities’ way — of saying thank you to veterans for their service and sacrifice,” said MacDonald. “It’s an amazing way to get these veterans together to build camaraderie and really help them with their mental health issues, if they have any.”
The organization has flown 8,300 veterans on 120 flights since Old Glory Honor Flight was founded in 2009 in Appleton by a group of dedicated local volunteers.
“Our plane trips are more than just a free flight,” MacDonald said. “We’ve provided thousands of veterans with an experience they will never forget. It’s a day or multiple days of healing, closure and reverence, and celebration of their service, all tied into one.”
MacDonald has accompanied the veterans on many of the trips, which often prove to be meaningful, powerful, emotional, and therapeutic for the veterans.
“It takes a lot of guts for someone to hop on an airplane with other veterans who they don’t know,” said MacDonald. “For older veterans, many of them haven’t really thought about their service for many years, so there’s a lot of anticipation once they apply and maybe a little nervousness as it approaches. But in the end, it’s a day (or days) that can provide peace and closure to our veterans.”
A HEROES WELCOME
The warm, festive reception veterans receive at the airport upon their return from the honor flights is especially rewarding and reaffirming for the veterans — many of whom never experienced a hero’s welcome for their service.
“They get the most beautiful welcome home at Appleton International Airport or EAA, depending on the trip,” said MacDonald. “Thousands of people come out for them, waving flags, and wearing red, white, and blue and cheering them on.
“I think it really knocks their socks off. I don’t think they’re ever prepared for all those handshakes, smiles, and people saying thank you. I think it’s very humbling for them, and I believe it makes a big impact on them.”
The honor flights often help veterans, who have been reluctant to talk about their military service, open up to friends and family about their war experiences. MacDonald used an example from a 2013 Old Glory Honor Flight to Washington for more than 100 Vietnam veterans who flew out of EAA in Oshkosh as part of the AirVenture festivities for the first time. Due to the success of that initial trip, it has become an annual event at EAA AirVenture known as “Salute to Veterans Day.”
“It was the first time we did that, and we had one veteran who was incredibly emotional from the minute he stepped into the airport to the time he got on that airplane,” said Diane. “He received a lot of pats on the back, thank-yous, and hugs.
“A week and a half later, his wife called me and said, ‘You know, since that flight my husband has been different,’” MacDonald recalled. “He sleeps better at night, he doesn’t have the nightmares, and he’s talking about his service and what he went through as a Vietnam veteran. His kids are so eager to listen to him.
“To me, that was pretty remarkable. These trips help our veterans strengthen bonds within their families.”
VIETNAM VET DISCUSSES EXPERIENCE
Darboy resident Glenn Zimmerman is one of the many veterans who have benefited from Missions of Honor programs.
Zimmerman is a Vietnam veteran who has experienced two meaningful flights arranged by Missions of Honor. One was a two-week “Return to Nam” special missions flight in 2019 that took 52 veterans back to Vietnam. The group made visits to Saigon, Mekong Delta (in My Tho), Da Nang, Hoi An, Perfume River (in Hue), Khe Sahn, and Hanoi.
Although other veterans groups have returned to Vietnam over the years, it was believed to be the first honor flight of its kind to return to the country. The veterans received a spectacular welcome upon their return, with thousands of supporters braving a March snowstorm to pack the Menasha High School Fieldhouse to show their appreciation.
“They were wonderful experiences, especially the one to Vietnam,” said Zimmerman. “That was a tearjerker. It really brought back a lot of memories. Everybody on that trip came back and said we had so much peace in our hearts after seeing how that country turned out and how nice the people were. It was totally different than when we were there fighting the war.”
Zimmerman’s first trip was a one-day Old Glory Honor Flight to Washington in 2016. He was moved by the memorials his group visited and blown away by the heartwarming welcome-home reception at Appleton International Airport.
“The way they (Missions of Honor) treated and honored us by taking us back to Washington and giving us a wonderful day there with meals and everything we saw, that was great.” Zimmerman said. “Just the fact that they were willing to honor us after all the crap we took when we first came home. The way people treated us at the airport was fantastic. That was the real welcome home we were looking for.”
Zimmerman served in Vietnam from 1969–70 at a base roughly 60 miles north of Saigon. He was a rifleman, carrying all the ammunition for his unit’s machine gunner along with his own M16 rifle.
“It was tough,” said Zimmerman, a Fox Valley Lutheran High School graduate who was 19 when he joined the service and 20 when he arrived in Vietnam. “It was a terrible war. War is hell. It was not a lot of fun. We were always afraid. You never knew if you were going to step on a trip wire or landmine, or if someone was going to jump out of the bushes and start shooting at you.
“You were on pins and needles all the time. But you made some really good friends with the guys who fought next to you. They had your back, and you had their back, so you get close to them. I’m still good friends with some of those guys and we see each other on a regular basis.
PURPLE HEART RECIPIENT LOOKS BACK
Iraq War veteran Mary Bigalk has taken part in a pair of Old Glory and Freedom to Liberty Retreat flights to Washington and New York. The Oshkosh resident was deployed in Iraq from 2003–04 as a civil affairs specialist.
“I don’t know if I could put it (the honor flights) into words,” said Bigalk, who works as a corporate compliance worker for Froedtert ThedaCare. “They were amazing opportunities. They were very, very emotional.”
Bigalk went on the Old Glory Honor Tour to Washington as a Guardian, a trained, traveling companion who provides safety, friendship, and comfort to the honored veterans.
“It was interesting to talk to people who had experienced a very different war than what I experienced, because it was obviously a very different time,” Bigalk said.
The Freedom to Liberty Retreat proved to be life-changing for Bigalk.
“I can easily say it was like ripping off a 20-year-old Band-Aid,” said Bigalk. “At the time, it had literally been 20 years since I had been in Iraq — 20 years since I had come back and reverted back to civilian life.
“It gave me the opportunity to understand the why of what I did and why I joined. Being able to share that with fellow veterans was indescribable.”
Bigalk saw combat action in Iraq. She spent six months in Fallujah where 150 U.S. service members were killed in two major battles in 2004. Bigalk was the recipient of a Purple Heart medal for her valor.
“I have seen a lot of things that I wouldn’t wish upon anybody,” said Bigalk. “But I also had the opportunity to experience a different culture, knowing I had a job to do with respect to that culture.
“It was also very interesting being a female in that type of cultural environment, where females are considered inferior and coming from a culture where that wasn’t the case. Trying to balance that with respect to one another was definitely a challenge. But it was an amazing experience, regardless of some of the not-so-great things I had to endure.”
A DETAILED GAME PLAN
Planning and financing the Missions of Honor trips and events is a lengthy, complicated process involving transportation planning, logistics, fundraising, and safety and security preparation. Missions of Honor relies upon a large volunteer base to support the veterans on their excursions.
“It’s what we do,” said MacDonald. “It’s what we spend months planning for. Chartering a plane and loading almost 200 passengers, and figuring out the logistics, the insurance, the medical team, and all the paperwork, it’s a lot. But we always get it done.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have taken almost all of the honor flights except for a small handful over the years, and to see the smiles and the gratitude — that’s what we call payday,”
MacDonald is a founding member of the organization. She and her husband Andrew “Drew” MacDonald joined Old Glory Honor Flight when it was created 16 years ago.
“Neither me nor my husband is a veteran – we just have a heck of a lot of respect for them,” said Diane MacDonald. “We were new to the community and looking to get involved in something meaningful. We had heard about honor flights across the country and knew there wasn’t an honor flight hub in this area. And here we are, 16 years later, doing this incredible work. I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done and the missions we’ve been able to produce for our veterans.”
HELPING WITH A PERSONAL CRISIS
Diane served as a volunteer for the organization for 13 years before she eventually became a paid staff member. She was named its executive director in 2021. Diane is close to many of the veterans she has helped and is far more than just an employee to them — she’s a friend.
Many veterans have expressed their friendship to MacDonald and shown their support while she has been dealing with a major health issue. She went in for a scheduled hip replacement in 2025 and learned a few days later that a meningioma brain tumor had been discovered.
Diane underwent emergency surgery, and doctors were able to remove much, but not all, of the tumor. MacDonald recently underwent a second surgery in late March.
“What has really touched me is the way that veterans have reached out to me,” said Diane. “They have sent me letters, texts, emails, Facebook messages, cards, and flowers.
“I had one veteran tell me, ‘We’re all praying for you. You are one of us.’ That’s something I’ll never forget. The level of support has been amazing, and I’m so grateful for all the prayers and well wishes. I kind of get teary-eyed when I think about it. It’s been very humbling. I wish everyone could feel this type of incredible support.”
Zimmerman, the president of Veterans of Mekong, Chapter 351, is one of countless veterans who has provided Diane with support.
“This (Missions of Honor) is a wonderful organization, and Diane is a wonderful person,” Zimmerman said. “She’s a good friend.”
Veterans who wish to go on these flights should apply online at missionsofhonor.org or visit the Missions of Honor Facebook page. The organization can also be phoned at 920-257-2563 or emailed at info@missionsofhonor.org
This article was originally published in the May 2026 issue of Appleton Monthly Magazine.
