Honor. Thank. Inspire. An Honor Flight Chicago Podcast

Air Force Captain Dave Adams was an F-4 Phantom fighter pilot in Vietnam, flying more than 200 missions over North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. A long-time member of the Honor Flight Chicago volunteer interview team, it's time for us to tell Dave's own remarkable life story.

In Episode 47 of this podcast, we profiled long-time Welcome Home flag line member Sonny Zdancewicz, whose bravery in Vietnam earned him three Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts. Only recently did he become interested in receiving those medals at the urging of his family, and at the same time decided that it was time for his own Day of Honor. That day came on July 24, 2024, and you can travel al...

Robert Gatenby had just married his wife of 56 years, Diane, when his draft notice arrived. During his service in Vietnam, Bob experienced the darkest moments war can bring. To protect his wife and parents, however, Bob's steady stream of letters home never let on to the danger he faced. This is a story of how war changes those who fight, and how love can conquer all.

On June 6, 1944, Richard "Dick" Rung was aboard LCT 539 as it attempted repeatedly to land at Omaha Beach in Normandy among fierce German resistance. The memories of what he saw and experienced that day remain vivid, even as he approaches his 100th birthday and especially as he traveled to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

While Ken Molnaire was working as an usher at the Des Plaines Theater in 1941, news broke of the Japanese bombing at Pearl Harbor. Though Ken had never heard of this faraway location, the attack there set into motion world events that would send Ken across the pond to Europe as an integral member of Patton's Third Army.

In July of 2024, we celebrate the 11,000th senior war hero Honor Flight Chicago has brought to our nation's capital -- the most of any hub in the nation. How do we fly so many veterans while giving them all a personal 1-on-1 Guardian for the day? Our dedicated, selfless volunteers who live in the Washington D.C. area. This is their story.

Tom Brown served as an infantryman in Vietnam, where he faced frequent and ferocious firefights as a member of the Big Red One. About six months into his tour, his unit was ambushed near the Cambodian border and Tom was severely wounded by a grenade. He describes his journey from there in today’s episode.

The Vietnam War had a soundtrack. For the men and women in-country, music -- and often one specific song -- provided an escape and a connection to "the world." Join Paul Meincke as he listens in to a recent talk by Doug Bradley, co-author of "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War."

On March 6, 1944, Richard Bushong was at the controls of a B-17 Flying Fortress as part of the first daylight bombing raid to reach Berlin during WWII. The air armada that day stretched for 94 miles in the sky and inflicted heavy damage on the Nazis -- but at an alarming cost to the Allied forces as well.

On December 7, 1966, Air Force Captain John W. Carlson was shot down near Bien Hoa. To this day, he remains listed as Missing in Action. He left behind a wife and two young daughters, Margot and Kim, who struggled to grasp the depth of their loss. While they continue to search for his final resting place, Margot also founded the 2 Sides Project, which unites children whose fathers died fighting ea...

As a teenager in Vietnam, Donald Talbot was involved in a firefight so intense that many of his fellow Marines were killed. Himself badly wounded, Talbot emerged from unconsciousness with the realization that his hands were being bound together. He quickly understood that to stay alive he would have to play dead -- and that was just the beginning of his fight for survival.

Russel McClintock served over three decades in the Navy, beginning during the Vietnam War and continuing through and beyond the first Gulf War. That service was -- in part -- meant to honor the father whose name he shares. Russel McClintock, Sr., was a B-26 gunner in WWII when his plane was shot down over Italy, leading to his capture and eventual incarceration in the infamous Stalag 17B. When Rus...

Long after the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953, American service members were still fighting on the peninsula -- though their weapon of choice was not a firearm or a mortar but the power of the pen. William Fireside's mission in Korea was Psychological Operations (PsyOps for short), and the adventures he had in the execution of that mission make for an entertaining episode.

John Lee's Air Force basic training testing in 1955 revealed a hidden skill: an aptitude for foreign languages. His first assignment was a yearlong intensive study of Russian at Syracuse University. He then took those skills -- and a top-secret clearance -- to the border with East Germany where he and others listened in on Soviet pilots flying overhead.

On July 14, 1966, Duane Buttell, Jr., was the "Guy in Back" of an F-4 fighter escorting F-105s to a target over North Vietnam. Suddenly, several enemy MiG-21s appeared. Buttell and his co-pilot, William Swendner, shot down the MiG in one of the first victories over that aircraft during the Vietnam War. The aerial battle made such an impact that Hanoi Hannah mentioned Duane by name on a subsequent...

Army Sergeant Jim Davidson arrived in Vietnam in March of 1968 with the intensity of the Tet Offensive still at a fever pitch. Jim stepped into the 101st Airborne as a replacement troop and soon found out why that unit's casualty rate was so high. Jim was wounded three times, the last time by a booby-trapped grenade that left him hospitalized for weeks. Instead of going home, however, Jim was sent...

From late 1956 through the summer of 1957, Army veteran Joseph Varanauski held the esteemed position of Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Listen in as Joe details his journey to one of the most prestigious posts in the U.S. Armed Services and reveals what it means to live by the creed "my standard will remain perfection."

Honor Flight Chicago has now flown over 10,600 senior war veterans to Washington, D.C., to celebrate their service and give them the proper Welcome Home they never received. That number is big -- possibly impenetrable -- but each one of those heroes has a story. Join Paul Meincke on September's HFC111 as he learns the stories of eight different heroes and the impact their HFC experience has had on...

David Mann's father was in Vietnam for only a short time when he was killed in a rocket attack months before his namesake son would be born stateside. The younger Mann has spent his life getting to know his dad, recently becoming involved with a group of Gold Star children called Sons and Daughters in Touch. David flew with us on HFC111 to honor his father's legacy and brethren, and share his own...

Norm Bowens and Mike Masello served in Vietnam at different times and at different places. Still, they each brought something home so common to veterans who served in combat: PTSD. Many years later, a chance encounter around a specific chair at a group meeting led the two to become fast friends and brothers. Both flew together on Honor Flight Chicago's 109th mission to Washington, D.C., in July of...

Jim Parker grew up an Air Force brat. When the time came for him to join the service during the Vietnam War, he chose the same branch as his father. Despite being raised to know all things Air Force, his assigned role in the war was not one he had ever heard of. While his comrades in arms fought VC and NVA, Jim's adversaries were much smaller and more pervasive: mosquitoes.

Dante Plata grew up in the church and fell in love with music and the guitar at an early age. Later, after entering the Army, he spent two years as a corpsman in a hospital in Japan treating the wounded of the Vietnam War. Seeing the results of the horrors of war up close led Dante to turn to his music for healing -- both for himself and for the benefit of those he cared for.

The son of Jewish immigrants from Russia, Howard Cain was so eager to serve in WWII that he forged his parents' signatures to enlist at 17 toward the end of the war. Later, as a flight engineer on a B-29 Superfortress following Japan's surrender, Cain was aboard a reconnaissance flight over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What he saw has stuck with him to this day.

Honor Flight Chicago flew its 10,000th senior war hero to Washington D.C., on May 10, 2023. On that flight was Vietnam Veteran and Purple Heart recipient Raymond Szweda. Each of the 10,000 veterans we have honored has an individual story of service and sacrifice. Learn Ray's as you follow him throughout his much deserved Day of Honor during which he "learned that it's ok to ask for help."

Ronald Baltierra served as a sniper in Vietnam, an assignment so difficult mentally that he failed to pull the trigger the first time he was ordered to do so. He eventually came to understand that as hard as it was to knowingly take a life, he was saving countless more in that brutal war with his actions.