Dekker: Group trying to send WWII vets to memorial

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Julie Dekker

Updated: March 6, 2012 8:05AM

On April 29, 2004, the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., opened to the public.

Built to honor our WWII veterans for their service and sacrifice, it is flanked by the Washington Monument to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west. It is an impressive sight.

There is only one problem: The men and women this memorial was built to honor may never get to see it. The average age of a WWII veteran is 87 years, and we are losing about 1,200 of them per day. There are an estimated 25,000 WWII vets in the Chicago area alone.

The cost of the trip, combined with health and age-related issues, keeps many of those veterans from traveling to Washington, D.C., to experience their memorial.

That is where Honor Flight Chicago comes in.

HFC is a 501c3 nonprofit group founded in February 2008 by Mary Pettinato, Jeannemarie Kapp, Nancy Kapp and Suzanne Stanits, four Chicago entrepreneurs who asked themselves what they could do to thank our WWII veterans.

They joined forces in their belief that they could make a difference in these veterans’ lives. The mission of Honor Flight Chicago is to bring WWII veterans to Washington, D.C., at no cost to them for a day of honor, remembrance and celebration.

The cost is about $500 per veteran to make the flight to D.C. That comes to about $55,000 for one Honor Flight from Chicago and back, which carries about 95 vets. So far, more than 2,000 WWII veterans have been taken to see their memorial.

Honor Flight Chicago has no employees. All staff members are volunteers, and 100 per cent of all donations goes directly to fund operations. Each flight takes about 250 hours to bring together before it even gets off the ground.

Honor Flight Chicago needs volunteers to help in many areas, including pre-flight operations, airport logistics, administration, fundraising and more.

At this time, more than 700 volunteers work tirelessly year-round not only to raise money for the flights, but also to provide veteran outreach programs, community and school education and public relations support.

Without the efforts of so many people, Honor Flight Chicago could not make these flights happen.

The trip is completely free to the veterans. Once an application is approved, a veteran is placed on a waiting list on a first-come, first-served basis. The priorities are WWII vets and terminally ill vets of any conflict, followed by veterans of Korea and Vietnam.

The average age of a veteran on the waiting list is 88. The flights will resume in April and continue throughout the year.

If you are a veteran or know one who would like to make the trip, pick up an application at the Tinley Park Library or download one from their website honorflightchicago.org.

There are many ways you can help this group. You can download an application to become a volunteer or guardian from their website.

On each trip, every veteran has a guardian to help him or her all day.

If you would like to make a donation, do so online or mail a check made out to “Honor Flight Chicago” to Honor Flight Chicago, 938 W. Montana St., Chicago, Ill. 60614.

On each flight, every veteran is given an envelope of “mail from home.” Honor Flight Chicago invites you to write a letter of thanks it can pass on to these vets to let them know that what they’ve done for our country is appreciated.

Letters can be sent to: Honor Flight Chicago Mail Call, Two Mid America Plaza, Route 83 and 22nd St. Suite 800, Oak Brook Terrace, Ill. 60181-4727.

It is estimated that within four to six years, most of our WWII veterans will no longer be with us.

The time to thank them is now.