diff --git a/plugins/out_forward/forward.c b/plugins/out_forward/forward.c
index 249c44c98db..85551da40c5 100644
--- a/plugins/out_forward/forward.c
+++ b/plugins/out_forward/forward.c
@@ -541,7 +541,8 @@ void cb_forward_flush(void *data, size_t bytes,
     }
 
     total += bytes_sent;
-    //flb_upstream_conn_release(u_conn);
+    flb_upstream_conn_release(u_conn);
+
     flb_trace("[out_fw] ended write()=%d bytes", total);
 
     FLB_OUTPUT_RETURN(FLB_OK);