Honor Flight Chicago's last hurrah for World War II heroes

Most of the 85 World War II veterans gathered before dawn to embark on this Honor Flight Chicago adventure are in their 90s. They all have guardians assigned to help them make it through the day. Almost all use wheelchairs. A few require oxygen. But, hours later, as those in Honor Flight Chicago's last group of World War II veterans pose for a photo at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., they swap tales of when they were young and earned the right to be called heroes.

“You never forget your first. You always remember the first guy you shot,” says Bob Burns, 91, of Ingleside. He graduated from Kewanee High School in May 1943, was in Africa by October and killed his first German in Italy.

“I wasn't going to go for my gun, but he pulled his gun. After that, it became a way of life: Shoot or get shot,” Burns says.

“I was 18 years old and pushing the Germans back. They ran like hell,” remembers John Sinitean, 89, who served with the 63rd Infantry. “We ran like hell, too.”

Serving on a submarine in the South China Sea, “we sank everything we could get our hands on,” says Jack Philips, 89, of Bartlett.

“We got caught in the Philippines by the Japanese — 72 hours of hell,” remembers Rolling Meadows' Russ Gordon, 93, who served with a Coast Guard unit that sank three submarines and shot down a trio of enemy planes.

Having earned a Bronze Star for heroism during the invasion of Okinawa, Wally Keefe, 89, of Carol Stream remembers watching the atomic bomb tests on Bikini Atoll. “I think I had (protective) glasses,” Keefe says.

“We got there right after the attack, and the oil was really coming out of there,” says Andy Anderson, 91, of Libertyville, who arrived in Pearl Harbor soon after enlisting in the Navy.

“We went to Casablanca” begins a story from Tony Vitale, a 94-year-old veteran from Buffalo Grove. “At 4 o'clock in the morning, I hear, ‘Kaboom! Kaboom!'”

The sounds of World War II were much more pleasing for 88-year-old Warren Smith of Des Plaines, who left his music education at Northwestern University in 1945 to play horn in two military bands. “The Air Force band was fantastic. They had guys who were very accomplished,” says Smith, who rose to the rank of principal horn player in that band, also played excellent music with the Army band and later played for the funeral of President John F. Kennedy.

They all deserve the hero treatment for their sacrifices on behalf of our nation, says Mary E. Pettinato, 56, the heart of Honor Flight Chicago. She introduces herself as the CEO, co-founder and janitor of the charity group that has been flying World War II veterans for an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., since June 11, 2008.

The ranks of these old warriors have thinned so much in the 70 years since the war's end that this is the last scheduled flight reserved exclusively for World War II veterans, and the Honor Flight Chicago board is working on the charity's new role.

This week's trip, the last of the year and 68th in all, brought the total number of World War II veterans who made the Honor Flight Chicago trips to 5,931.

“What a wonderful gift you can give a 92-year-old to let him know he's a hero,” says John Ptak, 40, who lives in Glenview and serves as president of the nonprofit group that depends on fundraisers, donors and thousands of loyal volunteers.

“I never saw anything so organized,” says Al Koplin, 88, of Hinsdale, who started in the Merchant Marine and later served with the Army's prestigious Counter Intelligence Corps.

“All these people are so dedicated,” veteran Glenn Olson, 88, of Palatine says of the massive volunteer force that welcomed him to Midway International Airport at 4 a.m. for a send-off that included sweets and a performance by the Legacy Girls, an Aurora musical trio that pays tribute to the Andrews Sisters of that era.

Jeff Smith, 67, a former Hoffman Estates resident who now lives in the D.C. area, greets the Honor Flight Chicago veterans, including Dick Brashler of Batavia, Walter Damitz of Wheeling, Wilbur L. Hayne Jr. of Lombard, Dick Kowal of Wheeling, Norm Mostad of Prospect Heights, Erwin Pickard of Wheeling, Frank Steslow of Lake Barrington and Joe Vavra of Des Plaines.

“Welcome to Washington,” Smith says. He'll return to the Washington, D.C., airport that night to throw them a festive send-off.

Receptions fill the day, which includes an unexpected Mail Call bundle of letters from loved ones, children and others before ending with a massive Welcome Home party with bagpipes, military units and 2,000 cheering fans at Midway. “Count the surprises,” advises Read Boeckel of Glen Ellyn, one of the original volunteers making his 56th trip to Washington with this group.

Realizing that this could be the final trip for World War II veterans, Pettinato is joined by fellow entrepreneurs and Honor Flight Chicago co-founders Jeanmarie Kapp of Barrington, Kapp's mother, Nancy “Nance” Kapp, and Suzanne Stanits of Park Ridge, all of whom deflect credit to the volunteers.

“I've spent two months in Washington through these trips,” says Andre Ammelounx, 51, of Palatine. His 60 one-day trips with veterans give Ammelounx the experience to push Olson's wheelchair to a spot where World War II hero, former senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole, 92, sometimes sits to chat with his fellow vets.

“He thanked me for my service. I didn't get into politics with him,” says Olson, who was drafted at the tail end of the war but carries the Purple Heart awarded to his father, Howard, who was killed on Thanksgiving in 1943 when the Germans sank his ship.

The logistics of planning a massive 18-hour pilgrimage with dozens of senior citizens, a 13-member medical team, three meals, countless bathroom breaks, performances, letters and receptions starts long before the flight. A stockbroker with a bachelor's degree in special education and a master's degree in naval warfare, Jody Kopsky, 58, of Palatine, ran the Welcome Home celebration for years but is serving as a guardian on this flight.

“Every time they see these guys come in, the tears come,” Kopsky says, noting how the old soldiers often join in the tears and always appreciate the thanks and love.

“When you see guys say that, we say, ‘Let's do it again.' They get to know before they go that they did something important in their lives. Isn't that what everybody wants?”

When he first heard about Honor Flight Chicago, Steve Wilson, 66, the retired CEO of CF Industries in Deerfield, thought it was a good cause.

“I thought about writing a check for $1,000,” Wilson says.

But after seeing a video of the Honor Flight experience, he literally jumped on board, not only flying on 13 trips, but also donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for those special charter flights.

As part of the photography crew that captures the memories, videographer Kevin Willman says he gets more than he gives. “My grandfather (Charles Hegyi) was a World War II vet, and I never got to talk to him about it,” says Willman, 46, who lives in Winfield and works for the College of DuPage, “Now, these are all my grandfathers.”

The smiles and tears come easily to these veterans reflecting on how the war of their youth helped mold the path that brings them to this point.

“We went away as boys,” says Jack Baker, 89, of Glen Ellyn. “And we came back as men.”

• For more information, visit honorflightchicago.org or phone (773) 227-VETS (8387)