* Photograph by Shane Van Boxtel / Image Studios
Old Glory Honor Flight
After moving to the Fox Valley 18 years ago, Diane MacDonald and her husband wanted a way to connect to their new community. When they saw a television news story about a veteran honor flight — transportation of U.S. military veterans to Washington, D.C. to see the memorials of the respective war(s) in which they fought — a connection was made.
MacDonald, who was raised by her grandparents, was passionate about working with the elderly; her husband is the son of a Korean War vet and was passionate about the military. They wanted to be a part of helping more New North region veterans have this memorable experience.
What started as a volunteer interest quickly turned into the formation of a new organization: Appleton-based Old Glory Honor Flight, which today is the most active of 120 hubs in the national honor flight network. MacDonald has since 2020 served as its sole employee; it was previously an all-volunteer effort. Since 2009, OGHF has organized dozens of trips for more than 6,000 veterans with the help of 250-plus volunteers.
“I never would have thought I’d be here 15 years later, working for the organization and really just being involved with some of the most fantastic projects,” MacDonald says.
What makes OGHF stand out nationally is that it doesn’t just fly veterans to Washington, D.C. for recognition and reunions. The organization has undertaken a variety of “special projects,” including honor flights to Vietnam, Pearl Harbor and Normandy.
MacDonald is moved to tears when she talks about the honor and healing that comes from OGHF’s efforts.
“It’s for [veterans] to start contemplating their place in history, for them to work through some of the issues that have been long buried for them,” she says. “It really has become about mental health and healing. I’ve talked to [Vietnam] veterans who were urinated on … or beaten up in train stations, and now we’re able to finally say ‘thank you,’ and that just means the world to those veterans.”
Many of the veterans with whom MacDonald works are very elderly, and she likens the planning of a single mission to that of a destination wedding: “We have insurance, dietary needs … we have to figure out the wheelchairs, forms and waivers and all that,” she says of her role as executive director. “And then I just try to promote the good work that we do, whether that’s fundraising or third-party fundraisers we help to support and promote.”
“In the nonprofit world, a strong and influential leader must wear multiple hats as chief of all things — executive, fundraiser, event planner, confetti sweeper — that keep an organization moving forward,” wrote MacDonald’s nominator, Rebecca Deschane. “Diane, as the only paid staff for OGHF, effortlessly wears all these hats while inspiring an army of volunteers. She exhibits strength, grace, compassion and empathy — and always with a smile.”
MacDonald has no plans to slow down, either. In the last two years, she has ramped up efforts to increase outreach to veterans in hospice care who are unable to travel and provide them with recognition, as well as other one-on-one veteran services. She also sees huge opportunities to increase collaboration with her fellow nonprofits, add day trips and special events, and to engage with more women veterans. “I think there’s an opportunity to engage our community even further,” she says.
MacDonald attributes her success to her hard work and the incredible demonstrations of gratitude that motivate her to keep going. But for every grateful veteran she gets to hug, she counts herself even more grateful for their service and sacrifice.
“I never served,” MacDonald says. “I feel like this is one way that I can serve. And let’s face it, for me to receive an award that’s about building a community and helping support a community, none of that would be possible without our veterans. They’re the true ones that have enabled me and my kids to live in freedom.”
