VALDOSTA — Saturday night, when approximately 100 World War II veterans return from Washington, D.C., to the Valdosta Regional Airport, Honor Flight South Georgia will have kept its promise.

More than a year ago, when Bert Powell and Buddy Johnson first proposed the Honor Flight program, they had hopes of raising tens of thousands of dollars to fund an expense-free trip for hundreds of regional World War II veterans to see their D.C. memorial. In a March 2007 meeting where The Valdosta Daily Times became an Honor Flight sponsor, Johnson and Powell imagined three trips.

Come Saturday night: Promise kept.

This weekend is the third journey and Honor Flight South Georgia volunteer staff members say it will be the last from Valdosta.

Though 120-plus veterans were registered for this flight earlier this year, many have had to withdraw, mostly due to health conditions, either theirs or those of a spouse. Remember these World War II veterans are mostly in their 80s and 90s, with a comparative few in their late 70s.

These withdrawals underscore the relentless urgency which Johnson and Honor Flight South Georgia pursued their mission.

With the Greatest Generation aging and, alas, vanishing, there has been no time to waste. Honor Flight’s urgency has been contagious. Nearly $200,000 has been raised, primarily from the Valdosta-Lowndes County area.

The first Honor Flight trip was a year ago in May 2007, and it happened a little more than two months after Johnson and Powell announced the concept. The second trip was last August. With Saturday’s trip, Honor Flight South Georgia will have taken more than 300 World War II veterans to see the World War II Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

This trip includes fewer of Valdosta-Lowndes County’s World War II veterans and more veterans from throughout the state as well as a few from other states. Honor Flight South Georgia’s mantra has been if a pre-registered veteran can get to the Valdosta Regional Airport, the group would get the veteran to D.C.

Like past Honor Flight trips, organizers encourage the public to come to the airport to wish the veterans well Saturday morning and to welcome them back Saturday evening. As Honor Flight coordinator Sarah Smart said in a recent letter to The Valdosta Daily Times, this may be the last opportunity to see so many of the Greatest Generation gathered in one place. It may be one of the last opportunities to thank them for what they did in World War II.

HONOR FLIGHT III’s WORLD WAR II VETERANS: George Aigen, Raymond Francis Baker, Ratcliffe C. Barnes, Bobbie J. Brooks, Fred H. Carter, Arthur E. Chadwick, William L. Cochran, John Winston Donahue, Clyde E. Dyer, Andrew Charles Grover, Charles L. Harris, Jack Hughes, Bonnie L. Lamb, Donnie L. Lamb, James E. Lee Jr., William J. Lewis, William L. Lewis, Clayton Junior Logan, William W. McCrary, William C. McMillan, McDonald Pierce, Wilmont Pierce, Howard Ellis Ray, Douglas M. Reddick, Louis Ridolfi, Andrew P. Ruh, E. Wayne Silvey, Lonnie H. Stallings, Sanders C. Thompson, E.D. Turner, John Webb, George Wirick, Robert Louis Almon, Maynard C. Anderson, John H. Bott, Merritt Bourne, Raymond S. Bryant, Walter Lonnie Chapman, James O. Cross Jr., Lee Everitte, Roy Fennell, Roland R. Finch, Buford Henry Galloway, Thomas Gibson, John S. Grosh, Howard H. Hansford, Winifred H. Harden, Henry James, James Levins, John H. Malone, Olin Mason, Samuel J. Najarian, E. Talmadge Parr, Clifford E. Phelps, Samuel W. Phelps, Malcolm F. Rainey, Warren Rehberg, Roland Robbins, Opie A. Taylor, Charles A. Tillman, William E. Tucker, Fred H. Walker, Ivan H. Wallace, Hubert Lee Warr, Jack Whitehead, Lee R. Wilcox Jr., Futch R. Yarbrough, Henry Carson, Frank M. Child, Philip A. Ellis, William O. Eubanks, Mack Fitzgerald, James R. Fletcher, Ernest C. Forehand, DeWitt T. Frederick Jr., Clark Futch, Howard M. Hall, Phillip W. Hall, Lee M. Hamilton, Richard Wayne Haviland, Philip G. Heaton, Denver Hollingsworth, Buck W. Jones, Robert Jones, Harry E. Kelso Jr., Gerald K. Pressley, David S. Randle, C.J. Rehberg, Joe L. Roberts, James H. Sams, Freling H. Scarborough, James E. Sirmans, James Sledge, Joe R. Slocum Sr., Edmond B. Stearman, Richard B. Stephenson, Charles W. Weber, Clifford E. Wells, Vonnie Wells, Lee Wetherington, William Wisse.

NOTE: Some names on this list may have changed as of press time.

GUARDIAN VOLUNTEERS: John Andrew Armstrong, William Jackson Bridges, Jerry Jurd Brooks, Frederick Mark Buescher, William Larry Clanton, Lyman H. Cole Jr., Nell Bridges Land, William J. Lewis III, Lona Lunden, John Craig McCrary, Michael Scott Purvis, Anita D. Sinnott, Teresa JoAnn Tenery, Jerry J. Turner, Michael K. Williams, Jack Bailey Wirick, Ellen Clary, Jennifer Eldridge, Jonathan Garvey, Willie Head, Daniel Hoffman, Ann Hoover, Myra Hortman, Kitty Kent, Dustin K. Land, Judy Lott, Benjamin Pitchford, Michael Reece, Duane Roark, Alice Thrasher, John A. Walker, Susan Davis, Sammy Dees, Guy D. Ervin, Robyn Ann Faucette, Bobbie W. Futch, Mary George, John Randall Hicks, Melodie Child Holton, Glenn Lasseter, Timothy A. Oliver, Robert Gary Roberts, Donald Sirmans, Nancy C. Smith, Larry Clifford Wells, Janice Whittle.