Here I am at Midway Airport to honor our WWII Veterans with Memorial Ceremony, where we flew them to Washington DC to see their War Memorial with military escorts waiting there for them and give a tour around Washington DC. Then we received them with a huge Welcome Home Ceremony. The day started at 0300 hours and ended at 2400 hours Wednesday night.
I don't have a photo here of when the LtCol and I were personal escorts to Lennon Lehman, the first black USMC troop to enter the Marine Corp. He will be receiving on 26 June 2012, the Congressional Medal of Honor in Washington DC, by President Obama.
The Navy Captain is in for a surprise, as the USAF LtCol and I have arranged for a US Flag to be flown on an Amphibious ship in the Persian Gulf for his retirement ceremony coming up soon. The LtCol is prior Navy and an awesome dentist!
Here is a WWII Army Air Corps PFC, explaining what it was like for him on D-Day as a waste gunner on the B-17, Flying Fortress.
LtCol Jackson, a Tuskegee Airman, is excited to see me again. We had met on a few occasions at my base. We first met in 2005, as I was new to Indiana, and had four tours with the 332nd Air Wing, the historical unit of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Soon after I was sent to Iraq, I was under the 332nd once again!
The LtCol sees me as a fellow Red Tail on the ground!
LtCol Jackson can't believe he is seeing me in Chicago! He tells the commercial pilots before boarding he isn't sure about flying with them as they are too slow for him. What a sense of humor! No they are nothing like the P-51 Mustangs!
We flew 90 WWII veterans to Washington DC and back that day! There was not a dry eye around. When they got back we saluted them and followed after marching two a breast through the airport terminal. All branches were represented in uniform. The Chicago Police and Fire Department Bag Pipers, Navy Band and Frankfurt Band was amazing! The WWII Vets were touched and then we were all met with American Flags and salutes from 133 Viet Nam Vets from the Viet Nam Motorcycle Club.
There were also WWII Vets that were survivors of Bataan, Battle of the Bulge, Navy WAV, Navy Nurse, B-17 pilots and B-26 pilots, Patton Tank driver, etc. It was truly amazing!
Here I am with the most beautiful woman and the one who has the toughest job - my lovely wife!
My grandfather and his five brothers all served in WWII in each branch of service and he and his oldest brother were in the US Army. My grandfather served under Patton as an MP on the Red Ball Express and later was an MP in the Army Air Corps
His older brother Glen served in 101st Airborne in WWII, Korea, Viet Nam and retired. All of them survived.
My wife's grandfather was a US Marine MP on the US Lexington in WWII and met her grandmother a US WAV at Great Lakes, IL and they were married three weeks later on the USS Roosevelt.
If if wasn't for these great men and women we would not be the wonderful nation we are today! To their great service and sacrifice we salute them! God Bless America!
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