Originally Posted by
92at410
Thank you Sir for working the trip. I have been on the Board of Directors for the MKE chapter of Honor Flight for many years. In 2009, after I was let go by Midwest, and looking for a new job, the program became very important to me. We fundraised and flew 3 747's that year, and yes, Delta charter dept. was VERY good to us when I was negotiating the cost. There is a TREMENDOUS amount of work done by an ALL volunteer group at all the Honor Flight hubs. EVERYONE associated with the program has one mission, make the Vets days as special as possible. If anyone happens to fly one of the flights, I would suggest, if possible, greeting and shake the vets hands in the terminal before they board, and Thank them for their service as they deplane. These are regular guys who did AMAZING things for our country and NEVER got the recognition they deserved. To be Thanked by an airline pilot is something that they NEVER though could/would happen to them. The MKE chapter produced a documentary about the program, which follows the day of 4 vets. When we debuted it, we rented Miller Park in MKE and 44000 people showed up for the showing. You can view it on Netflix, type in Honor Flight.
It was my pleasure to participate. The captain had escorted his dad out of Chicago on Southwest about two years earlier, just before his passing. It had special meaning to him to skipper IAD-MKE. My dad was an early helo pilot and saw Korea twice, Viet Nam twice. Very stoic guy who didn't talk much about combat but was very "okay" with his experiences - farthest thing from PTSD you could imagine. He never made it to the memorials. I think even he would have had a tough time checking the emotions if he had been afforded the opportunity to take an honor flight.
I shook a lot of hands at the arrival end. Those guys were on cloud nine. Between all the airline and airport employees, volunteers and current service personnel, there was a lot of excitement in the air.
Glad to hear our charter department was good to you. They really have their act together operationally, but of course I am the last guy to know about pricing. I was unaware of the documentary film. I will be watching it soon.
Did you take to the skies again after Midex? I used to ride your evening flight LAX-LAS, a route you flew for some reason; probably range to make MKE in the -30, but sometimes it was a -80. I took a longer flight as well. Nothing like real cloth and china in coach. I suppose those elegant touches went away in the later years. What a shame. Talk about flushing a Kimberly-Clark product.
Thanks for you contributions to a fine organization in Wisconsin. You folks do some great things.