Why We Fly

Serving our combat injured veterans is our highest honor

Every Flight Will Change a Life

Hundreds of miles often separate our combat injured veterans from the care they need and the families that support them. Veterans Airlift Command is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: Give our veterans and their families a lift—at no cost. Because every flight will change a life.

VAC’s network of volunteer pilots, aircraft owners, sponsors, and donors answer that call for our veterans when they need us most. Together, we lift them up.

Our Story in the News

Across the Web and On the Air

Oliver North's "Real American Heroes" SE:EP1 Walt Fricke

Wounded Vets Given A Trip Home For Xmas

This Mount Kisco CEO Pilots the Skies for Veterans

Our Advisory Board

Meet the distinguished combat veterans and community leaders behind Veterans Airlift Command.

Walt Fricke

Walt Fricke brings extensive executive and leadership experience to the VAC. As founding president and executive director of the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, Fricke spent years

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Bruce & Rosemary Rose

Bruce & Rosemary Rose have been the visionaries behind the Carrington enterprise, establishing a non-profit charitable foundation and a family of companies that values the

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Get to Know Us at Hero Flight 2022

Join us in Greensboro, Georgia on Nov. 11–12, for our twelfth annual Hero Flight gathering. At the Ritz-Carlton, you’ll get to meet the men and women behind Veterans Airlift Command—everyone from combat veterans and their families to volunteer pilots and owners and sponsors. You will witness firsthand the incredible impact these flights have on our veteran community and hear stories from the heroes we serve.

Learn more about Hero Flight 2022, including sponsorship opportunities.

VAC Memorial Wall

The veterans whose names are presented here have served over the years and around the world in times of peace and conflict alike. We honor them for their service, their sacrifices, and their inspiring passion for freedom.

Lieutenant Colonel, 
United States Air Force
Sleiman Salibi was born in Beirut, Lebanon on November 14, 1961. He was the first of four boys born to Wadad and Sami Salibi, creator of The Music and Art Teaching Center of Beirut. As a child, Sleiman realized…
United States Navy
James R. Petosa, 49, of Baldwinsville, passed away Tuesday, October 11 at home following a courageous battle with esophageal cancer. He was a 1980 graduate of Solvay High School, served in the U.S. Navy from 1980–85 and received his…
Major (Retired), 
United States Air Force
Edward Joseph McGovern, Major, United States Air Force (retired), passed away while serving his country in Afghanistan on December 6, 2009. Major McGovern was born on March 31, 1962, and was the beloved son of Edward C. and Joan…
Colonel (Retired), 
United States Air Force
Dick was born December 14, 1943, in Anacortes, Washington, where he spent his childhood enjoying one adventure after another with his best friend, Jim Williamson. He graduated from Central Washington University with honors, and. Following his passion, took a…
Lieutenant Colonel, 
United States Army
LTC John Herschel Danner US Army Member of 82nd Airborne Division Attended Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and Command and General Staff School at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Battalion Commander and later Regimental S-3 Commanding Officer and Executive Officer…

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