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The American veteran is one of our greatest treasures … those men and women who answered our nation’s call, especially at times of our greatest need.  Honor Flight Chicago’s mission is to honor and thank World War II veterans by bringing them to Washington DC, at no cost to them, to see the World War II Memorial built in their honor five years ago. Seven residents from Friendship Village boarded a flight to the Capitol on September 30 from Midway Airport.

The event began with a celebration two days earlier at Friendship Village where CEO and President Bob Alston, representatives of the Air Force, Marines and Navy assembled to host a send-off and to show their appreciation to these heroes.

Resident, Jim Morreale, was proud when his son’s flag company donated a flag to the Vets to commemorate the event.  The national symbol was presented at the send-off ceremony and held by all the Vets in a group picture at the Washington DC Memorial.  The flag will have a permanent home at Friendship Village in honor of all the community’s veterans.

The Honor Flight Chicago experience is always bittersweet… remembering fallen comrades, humbled by the respect and honor showed to the vets during this experience… pride in protecting the people of this nation, especially their families.  Two of these men shared a moment of their war experiences.

Lester Rozdaldvsky served as a 1^st Lieutenant in the Air Force.  On his last mission, he was flying a B24 when a German Fighter jet, ME262, came up behind their plane.  Lester said that if the German fighter had fired, they would have been shot down because their plane wasn’t as fast as the fighter jet.  Les doesn’t know why, but the German plane pilot didn’t fire at them and they were able to land safely.  Les said, “You never knew if you were coming back.  We had 50% causalities all of the time.  So you never made friends with anyone except your crew.”

Gerald Ewing served as a Sergeant in the Signal Corps attached to the Air Force.  His job was to set up emergency air strips in France.  His crew was sent to Orleans, the largest airstrip in Europe at that time.  No one know if the area was American occupied yet, so the 24 planes that dropped the men on the airstrip landed, taxied while the soldiers jumped out and then took off again without stopping.  Men were injured because they jumped with full packs on their backs.  Gerald’s father was in WWII at the same time and served as a Colonel with the generals planning the invasion of Europe.

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Honor Flight Chicago is totally funded by donations and they are trying to fly all WWII Vets to the Memorial while they are still able to make the trip.  To learn more, please visit their site at: www.honorflightchicago.org.