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September 2019 “Members Helping Members” Volume 36 Issue 05

Honor Flight #16

The entire idea of Honor Flight is to give veterans a WEL-
COME HOME like they never had when returning from
their war(s). It is awesome.

My Dad took the Chicago Honor Flight August 2010. (The
Honor Flight is an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C.
to see all the war memorials and some of the sights.).
There was no Lake County Honor Flight back then which
is really a shame. We had to have Dad and Roger (Dad
and his brother Jim’s Guardian) at Midway Airport by 4:30
a.m. That wasn’t the worst part. The Flight was done all in
ONE day. The trip was an all day, one day only event.
That meant two trips to Midway and back. Not fun for any-
one.

Dad’s plane was scheduled to arrive at 9:30 p.m., but
weather conditions meant they didn’t get in until 11:30 p.m.
Waaayyyyy toooo long a day for any one, let alone veter-
ans all in their 80’s. Those guys were some very tired, but
very happy veterans.
Dad didn’t stop talking about the Honor Flight
until the day he died.

Now, it’s nine years later and J.J. is scheduled
for his Honor Flight. It seemed to me he was a
little skeptical about the whole thing, but was
thrilled that he would get to spend some quality
time with his daughter Gina.

There have been many improvements in the
Honor Flight since Dad’s experience. Lake
County Honor Flight is a two-day trip which
makes really good sense for the old guys. They fly out early on Saturday morning from Milwaukee

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