Honor Flight pays homage to suburban veterans 65 years after war

When the war ended and Ken Zschach finally came home, he didn't expect a big celebration. He was just happy to be alive.

That was more than 65 years ago. Today, the Mount Prospect man says he's nothing short of “elated” by the way his country has grown to recognize its World War II veterans.

“It's a wonderful feeling,” said Zschach, a retired police detective. “I never expected anything — I don't think any vet did.”

Zschach, 88, is one of nearly 100 World War II veterans headed from northern Illinois to Washington, D.C., this week to see the nation's war memorials and to be honored for their service. The trip comes courtesy of Honor Flight Chicago, a nonprofit group that has flown more than 2,000 veterans to the capital since 2008.

For Zschach, an Army Air Corps veteran who supplied bombers and fighter planes in the Pacific, the visit brings opportunities to remember friends lost in the war and also to connect with other veterans who survived it.

“It's a dream come true, really,” he said. “I'm looking forward to the camaraderie of everyone else there. It's a different language, and you can understand. It's the camaraderie of being a vet. They were out there the same as you.”

Call it closure

Mary Pettinato and three friends founded Honor Flight Chicago about three years ago as a way to celebrate the region's veterans, particularly the aging population of those who served in World War II. Pettinato said more than 1,000 of these men and women die each day, so there is some urgency to the organization's work.

“We're losing them left and right, and these vets are so humble and unpretentious, just a proud group,” she said. “We need to honor every one before it's too late. They're all heroes.”

The one-day honor flights include at stop at the World War II Memorial, which opened in April 2004, and the opportunity to see Arlington National Cemetery, the Air and Space Museum at Chantilly, Va., and memorials to the Korean and Vietnam wars and the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Pettinato said the idea was sparked when her own father described the horrors of World War II and told her that, more than anything, he wanted to see the memorial before he died.

Since then, hundreds of donors and volunteers have made it possible for the organization to fly 25 groups of veterans to the memorial. Eight flights are planned for this year alone.

“Our generation might call it closure,” said Pettinato, of Chicago. “It's closure to that part of their lives that they never got, and are now getting 65 years later.”

Raring to go

Among those leaving on a flight Wednesday are Prospect Heights veterans Anne and Stanley Buda, whose youthful romance was interrupted when they each enlisted in different branches of the military during World War II.

Although their assignments had them in different parts of the world — Anne was a medic at a naval hospital in California, and Stanley was an Army equipment supplier and crane operator in the Aleutian Islands — they wrote to each other during the war and eventually married upon returning home to Chicago.

At 89, Stanley Buda still likes to poke fun that he doesn't approve of his wife's decision to join up, but the two agree it should be special to reflect together on that part of their lives.

“It's something we're looking forward to,” he said. “I'm just hoping I run across somebody I knew (in the war). You never know.”

Anne Buda, 87, said she believes Americans are taking more of an interest in veterans these days, thanks in part to the attention of patriot groups and the mainstream media. “The world of media has expanded so much that maybe more people are interested in getting into it and working on things like this,” she said. “Before, it just wasn't that way.”

For Army veteran Jim King of Naperville, the real treat will be socializing with other veterans and visiting all the memorials — even the ones for wars he didn't fight.

“It's got to be fantastic because everybody I've known who's gone there told me how great it is. I'm looking forward to all of it,” he said.

King, 84, enlisted right out of high school and went on to work as a statistician cataloging ships and cargo in Hawaii in the final 17 months of the war. Afterward, he was tapped to sing in a 36-member choral group entertaining troops still stationed in the Pacific, he said.

King said he visited the capital once before, for his honeymoon, but didn't fit in much sightseeing. “The only thing I saw was the White House,” he said. “The memorials weren't even thought of then. That came after my time.”

Still waiting

There currently are more than 1,500 World War II veterans awaiting a call from Honor Flight Chicago informing them of their departure date.

Some wait months, others years, depending on when they filed their request and other factors, such as health. Pettinato said volunteers spend about 1,500 hours coordinating each flight.

“We work around the clock to make them happen, to make them special and to make them a surprise,” she said. “Our slogan is there's no better time to say thanks.”

Zschach, the Mount Prospect veteran, said he waited about a year before he got the call, but it seemed like two. When the news finally arrived, he was “absolutely overwhelmed.”

“You wait and wait and wait,” he said. “Then when they called, I couldn't believe it.”

Zschach said he plans to have a moment of silence at the World War II memorial for an old buddy who enlisted at the same time as he did but never came home. He added that he's lucky to be in good health and able to go.

“At the age I'm at, let's face it,” Zschach said. “I read the obits, and these veterans are dying every day. I'm fortunate.”

For more information on Honor Flight Chicago, visit honorflightchicago.org or call (773) 227-VETS (8387).