NEW YORK—Legendary optometrist, Frank Fontana, OD, known with great fondness as “Uncle Frank” to hundreds of ODs, colleagues and friends in the vision care field, has been selected to take part in the WWII “Honor Flight” roundtrip from St. Louis to Washington D.C. on May 24.

According to Frankie Fontana, his son, Dr. Fontana will be among a limited number of veterans who take the trip. Rolando Lopez will be the leader of the May 24 St. Louis WWII Honor Flight. The mission of the Greater St. Louis Honor Flight is “to recognize our veterans—most urgently our World War II veterans—with a day of honor, remembrance and celebration. We do this with a one-day, all-expenses paid trip to Washington, DC to visit the World War II Memorial, built to honor their service and sacrifice.”

Frank Fontana,OD
The family and friends are asking those who wish to send a thank you note for his service for the "Mail Call" that is part of the flight ceremony. Letters can be sent to the Frank Fontana Honor Flight, c/o Michelle Lovell, 1317 Weatherby Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146. However, e-mail notes can be sent to michelle.ludwig@monsanto.com and Lovell, a volunteer, will make sure they are included in Dr. Fontana’s Mail Call. She will need to receive any e-mails no later than 3:00 pm CT on Friday, May 20.

Details about the Honor Flights program are posted on the St. Louis’ site as are details for veteran and guardian applications. The guardian accompanying Dr. Fontana on his flight will be his grandson, Anthony, said Frankie Fontana. The Greater St. Louis honor flight can be followed on Twitter @glshonorflight.

Dr. Fontana is a 1949 graduate of the Illinois College of Optometry. He was educated through the G.I. bill after serving in the U.S. Army for three years including 28 months of overseas duty in the European Theater of Operation. Dr. Fontana started his practice in 1950 and specializes in and is a pioneer in fitting contact lenses.

The St. Louis program began flying veterans to Washington D.C in 2008. The organization was founded by two area women who were passionate about making sure the St. Louis community’s veterans had the chance to see their national memorials. By the end of 2015, GSLHF will have flown 55 Honor Flights, serving more than 1,400 St. Louis area veterans.

The National Honor Flight program was conceived by Earl Morse, a physician assistant and retired Air Force Captain, to honor veterans he took care of for over 27 years. Honor Flight originated in 2005 with six small planes flying 12 World War II veterans from Springfield, Ohio to Washington D.C. The next year, with an ever-expanding waiting list of veterans, commercial airline carriers were used to accommodate as many honorees as possible.

Partnering with HonorAir in Henderson, N.C., the “Honor Flight Network" was formed and has expanded across the country. The non-profit organization also honors veterans from Korea, Vietnam and other more recent wars.