Marine Corp Sergeant Lou Covelli was among the earliest combat troops sent to Vietnam, finding himself part of 1965’s Operation Starlite — the first purely U.S. offensive of the war. Covelli volunteered for any assignment that came his way during his tour, never believing that he would make it home alive.

Staff Sergeant Harold Weir was struck eight times by enemy fire in 1944, but survived his wounds, subsequent capture, and five months as a POW in the infamous Stalag 17. In 2011 — accompanied by his daughter, Donna — SSgt Weir traveled with Honor Flight Chicago to Washington, D.C., for an experience that proved to be life changing for all involved.

Bob Wilcox landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944: D-Day. He survived the landing only to be cut down on “Bloody Hill” near La Haye-du-Puits one month later. In this unique episode, Bob’s daughter Jeanny Shotas’ remembrances of her father are interwoven with Bob’s own words from an earlier interview.

As an Army field medic throughout the Battle of the Bulge, Staff Sergeant Peter Broustis saw firsthand the brutal realities of war. For his courage under fire, he received a Bronze Star.

During high school, Bob Healy enlisted in the Marine Corps reserves. Soon after, Corporal Healy found himself on the other side of the world in the thick of the frozen Chosin Reservoir campaign — one of the most brutal battles in the history of modern warfare.

Through 41 missions over Germany during WWII, George Behling, Jr., escorted bombers in his P-51 Mustang and safely returned home. During the 42nd, however, his engine failed — forcing the 20-year-old to land in enemy territory and to take what he calls “the hard way home.”

During the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes, Army PFC Dick Idstein was wounded. The surgeon who operated on him asked “Do you want the bullet?” Dick said yes — and promptly sent the bullet home to his mother.

On April 15, 1971, Jim Zwit and Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division walked into an ambush in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam. Eight men in Delta Company were killed, and a severely wounded Jim was expected to be the ninth. Instead, after 20 months in the hospital, he lived.

Mel Copeland loves his country so much, he kissed the ground he walked on when he returned home from war during WWII. He wanted to serve his nation as a paratrooper or a pilot, but was quite literally too tall to fly — so he became a ground crew member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.

Twelve years and 95 flights after co-founding Honor Flight Chicago, retired CEO Mary Pettinato has so many stories to share about the impact our mission has had on our senior war heroes and their communities.

WWII veteran Bernie Bluestein was part of a unit so secret that his escapades in Europe remained classified for nearly 50 years! Now free to tell his story, hear his fascinating tale of serving with the US Army’s 23rd Headquarters Special Troops — the “Ghost Army” — deployed successfully along the Rhine river.

On the occasion of this Veterans Day week, Honor Flight Chicago Board President John Ptak sat down with our own Paul Meincke to discuss HFC’s approach to its mission during the current pandemic.