We did it! With the completion of a phenomenal HFC119 mission on October 23, our 2024 flight season came to a close. Exactly 800 senior war heroes received their long-deserved Day of Honor, Thanks, and Inspiration in our nation’s capital this year, including the 11,000th in our history.
The season final in October featured an incredible partnership with Powering Chicago, which fully sponsored the flight and contributed several impactful elements throughout the trip itself. Five veteran representatives of IBEW Local 134 and Powering Chicago traveled as Guardians, and they were as invested and valuable as any guests Guardians we have had in recent memory. Members of the group also joined our Welcome Home Flag Line, and issued special commemorative hats to every veteran who flew.
What’s more, HFC119 was just the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Honor Flight Chicago and Powering Chicago!
The eight Korean War and 107 Vietnam War veterans on HFC119 had a great start to their flight when the Itasca Quilting Society presented custom patriotic pillow cases to each honored hero.
This flight was a challenge from a mobility standpoint, with many more veterans than is customary requiring a family guardian to assist them throughout the day. As usual, our medical team led by Pam Eddy rose to the challenge, seating and caring for those heroes masterfully. Speaking of Pam, HFC119 marked her “retirement” as our medical lead, a role she has held since 2019. Pam has made it clear this is not a full goodbye and that we can still look forward to her contributing to our mission in the years to come!
In DC, fall colors and exceptional weather greeted our veterans. So did an enormous group of well-wishers at Dulles International Airport. The Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon performed just in front of the Reflecting Pool with the Washington Monument in the background. And the Welcome Home of a lifetime at Midway was as packed and impactful as ever.
As Vietnam Veteran Jim Boland told us afterward: “For over 15 years, I have been regularly meeting with psychiatrists and Hines VA to help me with my PTSD. None of them helped me more than my experience with Chicago Honor Flight. All the anger, resentment, hurt feeling disappeared with those wonderful people who reached out to me in Washington and especially at Midway airport in Chicago. Whoever came up with the concept of honor flights are geniuses.”
THAT is the impact our VOLUNTEERS make on our heroes! 800 of these veterans experienced this life-changing Day of Honor in 2024. We can’t wait to do it all again in 2025. See you then!
“A couple of days removed from the trip has given me time to get through the Mail Call, pictures, and mentally process everything from the trip. I’m sure that to a man, every one of us was blown away at the trip and the receptions we received at our arrival at Dulles and back in Chicago at Midway. I am truly humbled by the volunteer “army” that Honor Flight has at their disposal. You’re providing experiences to veterans they’ll be remembering the rest of their lives, hopefully balancing out some of the negative experiences they had so many years ago.”
— Vietnam Veteran Paul Windish
“I will never forget last Wednesday. I still cannot find words adequate to describe the super kind, amazing people I met and for the wonderful people who made it possible. OMG to arrive back at Midway!!! Unbelievable! So many wonderful, kind people greeted us with cheers, hand clapping, handshakes, hugs and tears. So many people told me they were sorry for the way we were treated when coming back from Vietnam, so many people reaching out to touch my hand, so many people, telling me ‘welcome home’ and thanking me for my military service. Just incredible. God bless America.”
— Vietnam Veteran Jim Boland
