Honor Flight Chicago 
Midway Airport, June 29th, 2011

I was honored to serve as a volunteer Guardian to escort two WWII Veterans to Washington, DC to see their WWII Memorial

It was truly a memorable trip for both the Veterans and myself. 

Midway Airport 3 a.m.   

Guardians are in the lime green tshirts  

Volunteer ground crew in Orange tshirts  

Veterans all wore the grey tshirts 

My two Veterans WWII Army, Rich Kowall and Jim Zappa 

Breakfast at the gate, catered by Harry Carey's Restaurant

Waiting at the gate at Midway to board the Southwest Charter Jet and listening to the
"Legacy Girls" from the USO 

Breakfast was served and catered from Harey Carey's Restaurant 

All Guardians sat in the aisle seats. Guess we had to keep an eye on our Veterans! 

Landing at Dulles Airport in DC.
The fire engine saluted the plane by hosing the left side of the plane 

Children waiting to welcome our Veterans to DC 

My one Veteran, Rich Kowall and his Grandson, who met us at Dulles.
He is a Marine and is an Honor Guard at Arlington National Cemetery 

Our big jet 

First stop and Lunch was the Air Force Memorial 

Maggie, a DC Guardian with her WWII Veteran 

The Pentagon as seen from the Air Force Memorial 

Second stop WWII Memorial and Special Memorial Service 

Rich Kowall and Jim Zappa on the right 

Third stop was the Korean War Memorial 

Jim and Rich 

Lincoln Memorial 

The Viet Nam Nurses Memorial 

Viet Nam Memorial Statue 

 
The last stop before heading home was the Smithsonian's
Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum where I was able to show my two veterans my grandfather's exhibits.  Below is the Enola Gay.

Heading back to Chicago 

Hmmmmm.... what's up with all these guys with lipstick on their faces? 

Me, Jim and Rich ready for takeoff 

The Captain came out and thanked our WWII Veterans for their service.
He also was a Veteran with 22 years in the Air Force. 

Mail Call 

I missed getting the picture of all the Chicago Firemen
saluting the plane after they hosed the left side of the plane 

The Chicago Fire Department were the first to greet our Veterans on the ramp. 

Great Lakes Naval Base Soldiers

Jim and Rich being thanked 

And what a welcome home it was for these Veterans!!!
Over 2,000 people showed for the welcome home.  

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