Honor. Thank. Inspire. An Honor Flight Chicago Podcast

Episode XIX: Honor Flight Chicago's Return To The Skies

After a 22-month pause in flying, Honor Flight Chicago is excited to return to the skies with its 96th flight in August of 2021. The resumption of flights to Washington, D.C., brings with it new protocols and a more urgent approach to our mission. Paul Meincke sits down with HFC Co-Directors Edna Ho and Doug Meffley to discuss those changes and more in this episode of Honor. Thank. Inspire.

Episode XVIII: Vietnam War Marine Corps Sergeant Louis Covelli

Marine Corp Sergeant Lou Covelli was among the earliest combat troops sent to Vietnam, finding himself part of 1965's Operation Starlite -- the first purely U.S. offensive of the war. Covelli volunteered for any assignment that came his way during his tour, never believing that he would make it home alive. When he did, however, the reception he received from his fellow countrymen shook him to his core. His path forward, and Honor Flight Chicago's role in his current outlook on his service, are a focus of this episode of Honor. Thank. Inspire.

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.