Highlights from our 131st flight
marc.zarefsky2026-09-04T08:15:35-05:00August 26 was the fifth mission of our 18th season, and we packed more into the day than we ever have before.
Charles H. Goebel: All In on the Navy
marc.zarefsky2026-08-25T16:16:32-05:00During his senior year in High School, he attended a career fair. The Navy was looking for recruits as enlisted flight crew. When he learned that one of the Naval aircraft tracked Russian subs he was “all in”.
William ‘Corky’ Gould: An Ordinary Guy, Extraordinary Risks
marc.zarefsky2026-08-25T09:46:54-05:00William “Corky” Gould was a 20-year-old boiler technician on the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea 100 miles off the coast of North Vietnam when a fire alarm blared. A second alarm followed 20 seconds later.
Jim Hamilton: A love for flight
marc.zarefsky2026-08-25T09:44:59-05:00Jim Hamilton discovered his passion for air travel as a teenager, when he routinely rode to O'Hare and hopped on short flights to and from Chicago — all without his parents knowledge.
John Bryla: Ready for respect
marc.zarefsky2026-08-26T22:34:23-05:00John arrived in Vietnam just after the TET Offensive of 1968 to the 2/39th 9th Division. His primary base camp was Dong Tam in the Mekong Delta.
Dave Dial: A lifetime of fishing for information
marc.zarefsky2026-08-25T10:32:08-05:00Dave Dial grew up as an only child in a hardworking blue-collar family. His parents didn’t graduate from high school, but they were doubly determined that their son would have opportunities they hadn’t.
Highlights from our 130th flight
marc.zarefsky2026-08-04T21:35:00-05:00HFC130 took flight on July 29 with one World War II, one Korean War, and 105 Vietnam War Veterans aboard. This was our second flight this season with at least one Veteran from all three of the eras we currently serve!
Patrick Lloyd: Music and mystery at Pearl Harbor
marc.zarefsky2026-07-28T06:34:39-05:00Patrick Lloyd will never forget the first time he saw Pearl Harbor. He was just 18 in the summer of 1944, still new to the U.S. Navy. And he couldn’t believe his eyes.
Mary E. McCafferty: A front-row seat to history
marc.zarefsky2026-07-28T06:33:42-05:00Mary McCafferty was born and raised in Chicago. Her mother’s ancestors were some of the early founders of the city of Chicago.
Keith Howard: Creating the Rose Garden
marc.zarefsky2026-07-28T06:32:45-05:00Keith Howard had been serving at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan for several months when he received orders to board a plane, although he wasn’t told the destination.
Reggie Jones: Doing whatever needed to be done
marc.zarefsky2026-07-28T06:32:05-05:00Reginald (Reggie) Jones, a proud Chicagoan and the youngest of five children, proudly served our country all over the globe, in places most people could never imagine having the opportunity to visit.
Gene Potter: From farm to Vietnam and back
marc.zarefsky2026-07-28T06:31:03-05:00Born on November 26, 1945, in Sandwich, Illinois, Gene Potter grew up on a family farm near Sheridan, part of a farming heritage that stretched back to 1841.
Edward ‘Ted’ Bales: A witness to history
marc.zarefsky2026-07-28T06:30:06-05:00Most people don’t realize they are a witness to history until long after the moment has come and gone. So it was for Lt. Ed Bales, CIC officer aboard the Destroyer Escort USS Beale, during the Bay of Pigs, and, 18 months later, the Cuban missile crisis.
Highlights from our 129th flight
marc.zarefsky2026-07-03T09:50:42-05:00The National Mall was a flurry of activity with both the launch of the Great American State Fair the same evening we were in town, and with preparations for the official America250 celebrations to take place over the July 4 weekend.
Philip Foss: A Captain in the skies after 9/11
marc.zarefsky2026-06-25T13:49:56-05:00Everyone knows the infamy of September 11, 2001, but not the following.
Five Patriotic Bunton Brothers
marc.zarefsky2026-06-23T20:03:23-05:00The Bunton Brothers grew up loving sports and their country. All five brothers served our country with honor, married and had children of their own.
Bruce Callen: Life as a Combat Medic
marc.zarefsky2026-06-23T20:01:06-05:00Bruce Callen did not choose to be a combat medic in Vietnam. It chose him.
Ed Piane: Desperate Days
marc.zarefsky2026-06-24T01:01:39-05:00He has never forgotten them. A Vietnamese woman and her daughter. They were standing silently in the maelstrom swirling on the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon.
Highlights from our 128th flight
marc.zarefsky2026-06-03T10:14:24-05:00Our 128th mission to Washington, D.C., brought a packed plane full of three Korean War and 113 Vietnam War Veterans to their Memorials in our nation’s capital on May 20, 2026.
Highlights from our 127th flight
marc.zarefsky2026-04-27T10:36:36-05:00Our 18th Honor Flight Chicago season is upon us! We kicked off the 2026 flight campaign on Wednesday, April 15, with the 127th flight in our history, bringing two Korean War and 106 Vietnam War Veterans to Washington, D.C.