ROCHESTER, N.Y. — For the first time in two and a half years, military veterans from the Rochester area are heading to Washington, D.C. Saturday morning as Honor Flight Rochester resumes flying operations.

It was a 3:30 a.m. arrival time for Mission 70, the first honor flight out of the city since October 2019.

The COVID-19 pandemic put many scheduled trips on hold.

Honor Flight had set up "Mission 70" for September 2021, but a wave of COVID cases forced organizers to put the trips on hold.

Honor Flight gives veterans the chance to fly to Washington free of charge to see the memorials and monuments built in their honor and to celebrate their service with a day of honor at the nation’s memorials.

“This is our opportunity to give back to them for their heroism they displayed for our country,” Steve Rapp of Honor Flight Rochester said. “It means the world to them which in turn means the world to all of us as volunteers.”