DFW International Airport Unveils Plans For Conclusion Of "Welcome Home A Hero" Program

DFW International Airport has unveiled plans for the end of the “Welcome Home A Hero” program, highlighted by twelve days of organized welcomes for the final Rest and Recuperation (R&R) flight arrivals. The United States Army last month announced that it would end the daily R&R charter flights into DFW and close its Personnel Assistance Point (PAP) at the Airport, consolidating the program into Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The Army announcement signaled a conclusion to the daily “Welcome Home A Hero” volunteer greeter program that has welcomed every R&R flight since June 2004. 

The final R&R flight arrival at DFW is set for March 14, and the last departure is scheduled for March 30.

Starting March 3, designated volunteer groups will be asked to turn out to greet a flight arrival on specific days so the U.S. Army and program organizers can thank them as they welcome our heroes. The greeter schedule is as follows:

“These final daily greetings give us a chance to pay tribute to the thousands of volunteers that carried out this remarkable mission at DFW Airport,” said Jeff Fegan, CEO of DFW Airport. “The overwhelming amount of support delivered to our troops at DFW over the past eight years will be forever remembered, and our mission to support the troops that continue to transit through DFW will continue indefinitely.”

For the final month of R&R departure flights, troops will be treated to lunches at the Terminal B manifest area, under the coordination of the USO. For information, contact the USO at 972-574-3933 or cbaloglou@uso.org.

The USO facility at DFW Airport will remain in operation serving troops, even after the end of scheduled R&R charter flights. Troops will continue transiting through DFW individually or in small groups on their travels between the United States and the theater of operations in the Middle East, and will continue to receive enthusiastic support at DFW.

“The thousands of remarkable community volunteers who worked so hard on behalf of our men and women in uniform will continue to look for opportunities to serve our military heroes,” said Jim Crites, DFW executive vice president for operations. “We have seen a tremendous outpouring of support from our neighbors, and they will continue to support the troops and the USO here.”

The “Welcome Home a Hero” program has been nationally recognized as a model for civic participation and grew into one of the largest public service projects in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  

Since June 14, 2004, “Welcome Home A Hero” program volunteers have greeted over 460,000 inbound soldiers transiting through DFW on their way home for two weeks of rest and recuperation (R&R) from active duty in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Hundreds of local organizations and more than 10,000 individual volunteers have greeted about 2,700 incoming flights during the life of the program.

Counting a ten-week period of R&R flights that started in 2003, DFW will have hosted R&R flights from the U.S. Army’s Human Resources Command for a grand total of 2847 days, or about eight years, by the time flights end.