Navy vet Donald Shinn and Air Force vet Ron Bosworth are taking part in an Honor Flight this weekend through Buffalo-Niagara Honor Flights.

Honor Flights aim to take as many veterans as possible to Washington D.C. to see the memorials for the wars in which they were engaged.

A reception was held Friday at Warren Area High School as a send-off.

Misty Weber, WCSD Virtual Academy principal, said the flight will leave tomorrow morning “bright and early” at 4 a.m.

Donald Shinn takes photos with his plaque Friday in advance of his Honor Flight this weekend.

“We’re really looking forward to the day,” she said.

Students from throughout the district were part of the reception.

Students from Beaty-Warren Middle School sang God Bless the USA, the Warren Area High School madrigals performed both the National Anthem and American the Beautiful while two seventh graders from Eisenhower presented and read letters to Shinn and Bosworth.

Seven students who have made commitments to serve in the military after graduation were also sworn in as part of the reception.

That includes, from Sheffield, Ryan Grier (Army Reserves); from Youngsville, Ian Mancuso (Army), Preston Orr (Army), Griffin Daley (Army); from Warren, Grant Heeter (Marines) and Evan Swanson (Marines) and, from Eisenhower, Olivia Hummell (Army) and Alexis Christensen (Army).

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Ron Bosworth talked to a student who presented him with a packet of letters during Friday’s reception.

City of Warren Mayor Dave Wortman, a retired Special Forces colonel, spoke and said that Bosworth and Shinn “served in a strange and distant land” and said the nation is “forever in your debt” for their service.

He noted that Pennsylvania has the fourth-most veterans in the country and that Warren County is among the highest in the state in terms of percentage of veterans.

He commented on the “enormous human cost” that the Vietnam War, including the 58,220 American lives lost.

“Many times, our society takes for granted the rights we enjoy,” he said. “In the end, freedom isn’t free.”