Dr. John Wander was drafted in 1967, certain he was headed to Vietnam where surgeons like himself were in great demand. Instead, he was assigned to an Army base eight miles from the DMZ in South Korea.

Army E4 Ken Burmeister saw friends wounded and killed during his time in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia. His post-war healing received a boost after a surprise reunion decades later with a wounded friend, and from his efforts to track down the student author of an anonymous letter he received on his Honor Flight Chicago trip.

Robert Gurley and James Blue can't agree on when they first met, but what they can agree on is they have been the best of friends since childhood. When Robert was "snatched off the street and sent to Vietnam," it didn't take James long to enlist to follow his friend.

When a young Catholic priest saw many of his parishioners being sent to war in Vietnam, he felt it was his duty to serve as well. It took Father Richard Shannon years of lobbying, but eventually, he was granted permission to enlist.

Stuart Poticha's antics -- and those of his fellow doctors -- during Basic Training were tolerated only because "court-martialing a surgeon caused too much paperwork." But Stu could save lives. And the 12th Evac Hospital in Vietnam, where he was Chief of Surgery, did that better than anyone else.

Jerry Zabel was born in Munich, Germany, to a mother and father who barely survived Nazi concentration camps. Growing up, Jerry found his parents reluctant to talk about their experiences in WWII. When Vietnam broke out, Jerry's insatiable curiosity about the nature of war drove him to enlist—and soon the realities became all too real.

Air Force Captain Dave Adams was an F-4 Phantom fighter pilot in Vietnam, flying more than 200 missions over North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Long time Welcome Home flag line member Sonny Zdancewicz earned three Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts in Vietnam, but wasn't interested in receiving those medals until recently. He also wasn't interested in having his own Day of Honor -- until now.

Robert Gatenby had just married his wife of 56 years, Diane, when his draft notice arrived. During his service in Vietnam, Bob experienced the darkest moments war can bring. To protect his wife and parents, however, Bob's steady stream of letters home never let on to the danger he faced.

On June 6, 1944, Richard "Dick" Rung was aboard LCT 539 as it attempted repeatedly to land at Omaha Beach in Normandy among fierce German resistance. The memories of what he saw and experienced that day remain vivid.

While Ken Molnaire was working as an usher at the Des Plaines Theater in 1941, news broke of the Japanese bombing at Pearl Harbor. The attack set into motion world events that would send Ken across the pond to Europe as an integral member of Patton's Third Army.

In July of 2024, we celebrate the 11,000th senior war hero Honor Flight Chicago has brought to our nation's capital -- the most of any hub in the nation. How do we fly so many veterans while giving them all a personal 1-on-1 Guardian for the day? Our dedicated, selfless volunteers who live in the Washington D.C. area.