Families of wounded soldiers get plane tickets for visits

WASHINGTON -- Jo Sissel got some good news for a change Tuesday.

Her son Aaron, 22, was killed last month when his convoy was ambushed in Iraq. The Tipton, Iowa, woman has been at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, visiting her son's childhood friend and fellow solider Joe Gottschalk, 24, also from the same town, who was shot in the head during the same ambush.

Sissel spent more than $1,000 on plane fare for her and her daughter to fly to Washington and support Gottschalk's family. But on Tuesday Sissel learned she is one of hundreds who will be getting a free ride to visit soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, at military hospitals around the country.

"Operation Hero Miles" is giving 680 free plane tickets to families of wounded troops. Since November, the program has also been providing free plane tickets home for soldiers on leave from Iraq and Afghanistan, using donated frequent flier miles.

The tickets will be distributed through the Fisher House Foundation, a nonprofit organization that opens its 32 homes across the country to military families.

They will make donations based on the high cost transportation, distance and severity of injury, foundation officials said.