U.P. Honor Flights began in 2011 and provide a memorable, safe, and rewarding tour of honor for our U.P. veterans. Those selected are flown on a one-day whirlwind tour to Washington D.C. to visit and reflect on the memorials that stand in their honor. While all veterans are eligible to apply, priority is given to WWII and Korean veterans along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill. This “Tour of Honor” is free to the veteran, with airfare, meals, deluxe tour bus, t-shirts and other items provided at no cost to the participants.

Rapid River resident David Badgett is endeavoring to assist the Honor Flight in its fundraising efforts in a unique way. Badgett was a proverbial ‘military brat.’ His father was a career lieutenant commander in the United States Navy and his mother also served in the Navy as part of the WAVES, working in an ordinance plant in Chicago that produced millions of bombs, mines, and rocket components for the war effort. Badgett grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, but it was his mother’s U.P. roots that convinced him to bring his own family here in 1981 and call it home. His mother, Alice, originally hailed from the small U.P. town of Foster City where her family owned a cheese factory and David had spent many summers while growing up. “It looked like a good place to raise a family,” he says. A self-described ‘fix-it kind of guy,’ who likes to rebuild things, he opened B & B Tool, a tool and equipment repair business as well as other business enterprises. “The U.P is full of opportunity if you work hard,” he says with a grin.

In 2019, he began creating and manufacturing plasma cut metal art. His interest in this all began with a children’s 1968 Ford pedal tractor toy. “I went to a sale and saw this rusty little tractor. I bought it, sandblasted and powder coated it, and made it look new again.” Shortly after the purchase, a neighbor of his let him know that he was going to sell all of his plasma equipment. “I bought every bit of it. That’s why I call the toy tractor my $20,000 toy tractor,” he says with a laugh. The neighbor gave David some initial lessons and things just took off from there. He began making the flat metal art plaques including some in the shape of the U.P with the stars and stripes of the United States flag superimposed on them.

The seven step process to create each flag begins with a 4-foot by 10-foot sheet of ‘pickled in oil’ steel from which the computer aided design cuts out 32 U.P. shapes. This material gives the flags a beautiful and unusual sheen and it also helps prevent them from rusting. In batches of thirty, he then hand applies tape to each piece in preparation for the ‘flag striping.’ It is then sprayed with blue and red dyes to create the ‘flag effect.’ The tape is removed and they get rolled to the back of his workshop for powder coating. After this they are baked for about one hour at 375 degrees.

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While he makes plaques for retail, he also began giving the ‘U.P. flags’ out, free of charge to local firefighters, police officers and veterans. “My soft spot is for veterans,” he thoughtfully says.

David’s ‘soft spot’ was particularly evident on September 17, 2025, when Honor Flight XXVII took off from Escanaba and he gifted each participating veteran on the flight with one of his ‘U.P. flag’ plaques. “The reason I did this was for my parents and my son. He signed up during the Iraq war.” While David’s parents have passed away, his son Jack currently serves as a Sargeant First Class in the United States Army. David accompanied his mother Alice when she participated in the very first Honor Flight on September 22, 2011.

But David wanted to do more. He found out that each donation funded Honor Flight costs about $135,000 and he wanted to contribute. David approached the U.P. Honor Flight Board of Directors and offered to make and donate 1,000 of his U.P. flags at $25 per flag to help pay for the annual flights. “I’m retired and I want to do a little good work. This is something I can do to make a difference.”

U.P. Honor Flight Board member Julie Hoffmeyer began working with David on how they could begin selling the plaques locally. She reached out to local financial institutions to see if they would allow the Honor Flight to sell these at their banks. They agreed and David then created signage for the lobbies. The original stock of plaques at each bank sold out within one week. “We have not been able to keep up with the demand. People are stunned when they see how beautiful the plaques are,” she excitedly states. Along with setting up the selling locations, Julie assists David with labeling and bagging each numbered plaque for distribution.

David humbly states, “I can’t do this without Julie’s help. What she does is just as important as what I do.”

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And as for that toy tractor that started it all? David says, “I have seven grandkids and each one of them now have a pedal tractor.”

If you are interested in purchasing a plaque to support the next Honor Flight, please visit www.uphonorflight.org/store/Misc/MetalUpperPeninsulaFlag.

Flags can be purchased at the following businesses in the local area and greater U.P.

– Northern Machine & Repair in Escanaba

– Upper Peninsula State Bank in Escanaba, Gladstone, Houghton, Iron Mountain, Marquette

– Bay Bank in Escanaba, Gladstone & Rapid River

– First Bank in Escanaba (2 locations), Gladstone, Kingsford, Iron Mountain

– Great Lakes First Federal Credit Union in Escanaba

– Up State Credit Union in Escanaba

– Eco Fuels Carnes Gas Stations in Escanaba & Gladstone

– Daily Press in Escanaba

– Jack’s Restaurant in Rapid River

– Drifter’s Restaurant in Escanaba

– Lake State Industries in Escanaba

– NAPA Chatfield’s in Escanaba

– Upper Peninsula Military Museum Escanaba

– Rapid River Pub

This article was originally published in Country Lines Magizine. As of this republication, Badgett has completed the creation of 900 flags.