Honor. Thank. Inspire. An Honor Flight Chicago Podcast

Episode XVII: A Daughter's Remembrance of WWII Purple Heart Veteran Harold Weir

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. Harold returned home after WWII and for decades stoically endured mental and physical pain that often left him unable to sleep through the night. 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.

Honor. Thank. Inspire. Episode XVI: A Daughter's Remembrance of D-Day Veteran Bob Wilcox

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. After nearly a year in the hospital, Bob came home to focus on family and his career as a notable optician prior to his passing in 2020. 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 one of Bob's famous clients once said: Holy Cow!

Honor. Thank. Inspire. Episode XV: WWII Bronze Star Medic Peter Broustis

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. And yet, it was the atrocities he witnessed as part of the liberation force at Dachau that truly shocked him. As Peter says, "I saw man's inhumanity to man."

Honor. Thank. Inspire. Episode XIV: Korean War Marine Bob Healy

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. Hear his story of survival as one of the Korean War's "Chosin Few."

Honor. Thank. Inspire. Episode XIII: WWII Pilot George Behling, Jr.

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."

Honor. Thank. Inspire. Episode XII: WWII Purple Heart Veteran Dick Idstein

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. That act preserved a tangible piece of history from the famous battle, and Dick used it during his career as a grade school teacher to illustrate the realities of war for his students.

Honor. Thank. Inspire. Episode XI: Vietnam Veteran Jim Zwit

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. To honor a pact he made with one of the fallen, Jim set out to find the families of those eight men in what became a decades-long quest that only divine intervention could complete. In this Season II debut of Honor. Thank. Inspire., Jim shares in riveting detail the battle, the aftermath, and the search that became his driving force.

Honor. Thank. Inspire. Episode X: WWII Tuskegee Airman Mel Copeland

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. In this first season finale of our Honor. Thank. Inspire. podcast, Mel's wisdom and deeply respectful approach to life shine through with a message that's as timeless as it is timely.

Honor. Thank. Inspire. Episode IX: Co-Founder and Retired CEO Mary Pettinato

Honor Flight Chicago Co-Founder, retired CEO and current Board member Mary Pettinato got the idea to start an Honor Flight hub in Chicago after taking her father to see his WWII Memorial shortly after it opened. Twelve years and 95 flights later, Mary has seen it all and has so many stories to share about the impact our mission has had on our senior war heroes and their communities.

Honor. Thank. Inspire. Episode VIII: WWII "Ghost" Army Veteran Bernie Bluestein

WWII veteran Bernie Bluestein was an art student in 1943 when he saw an Army recruiting flyer posted on the bulletin board at school looking for artists to form a new outfit. He ended up as 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.