Johnnie Williams received a bit of advice as he arrived in Vietnam: Don't get too close to the soldiers you are fighting with. As Johnnie came to understand, though, heeding that advice was much easier said than done.

Don Hendrick grew up in the Cabrini-Green Housing Project and joined the Army after repeated run-ins with the law. On the battlefields of Vietnam he distinguished himself, earning the Bronze Star with V device. Upon his return home, though, he was told "nobody cares."

Sergeant Don Taylor had a background in music when he entered the service. Armed with an FCC license, Taylor was the perfect recruit to join the Armed Forces Vietnam Network as a disc jockey spinning the soundtrack of the Vietnam War.

Richard O'Connor earned a Bronze Star for his heroics on the battlefield one early April day in 1969, a fact that only came to light back home when his mom found the medal in his duffle bag. Dick did not want the attention as he dealt with the lasting emotional scars of service.

Dr. John Wander was drafted in 1967, certain he was headed to Vietnam where surgeons like himself were in great demand. Instead, he was assigned to an Army base eight miles from the DMZ in South Korea.

Army E4 Ken Burmeister saw friends wounded and killed during his time in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia. His post-war healing received a boost after a surprise reunion decades later with a wounded friend, and from his efforts to track down the student author of an anonymous letter he received on his Honor Flight Chicago trip.

Robert Gurley and James Blue can't agree on when they first met, but what they can agree on is they have been the best of friends since childhood. When Robert was "snatched off the street and sent to Vietnam," it didn't take James long to enlist to follow his friend.

When a young Catholic priest saw many of his parishioners being sent to war in Vietnam, he felt it was his duty to serve as well. It took Father Richard Shannon years of lobbying, but eventually, he was granted permission to enlist.

Stuart Poticha's antics -- and those of his fellow doctors -- during Basic Training were tolerated only because "court-martialing a surgeon caused too much paperwork." But Stu could save lives. And the 12th Evac Hospital in Vietnam, where he was Chief of Surgery, did that better than anyone else.

Jerry Zabel was born in Munich, Germany, to a mother and father who barely survived Nazi concentration camps. Growing up, Jerry found his parents reluctant to talk about their experiences in WWII. When Vietnam broke out, Jerry's insatiable curiosity about the nature of war drove him to enlist—and soon the realities became all too real.

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.

Long time Welcome Home flag line member Sonny Zdancewicz earned three Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts in Vietnam, but wasn't interested in receiving those medals until recently. He also wasn't interested in having his own Day of Honor -- until now.