ABC 7 Chicago featured the stories of two senior war veterans in honor of Veterans Day this past weekend, and both men have previously received their day of honor from Honor Flight Chicago.
John Ullinskey is one of few men who experienced the start of D-Day, the biggest military invasion of all time, as well as the start of the invasion of Okinawa — the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific in World War II. Today he is 94. He flew with Honor Flight Chicago on July 2, 2014.
Bernie Bluestein, meanwhile, was a member of the super-secret Ghost Army, a group of troops that tricked German troops during the vicious fighting that followed D-Day during World War II. The work of the Ghost Army was kept secret by the government until the 1990s.
Bluestein is 95 years old. He flew with Honor Flight Chicago on Oct. 26, 2010.
Honor Flight Chicago Board member Paul Meincke told the story of these two men for ABC.
“The best way to have an enjoyable life: sit down and have conversation with people. It doesn’t cost you anything.”