Striding purposely around a bend of a park path recently in Washington, D.C., Jim Chianakas suddenly saw before him the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
“There it is,” he said. “Wow!”
Beside Chianakas, 85, of Princeville, Ill., was his brother George, 86, of Crystal Lake.
The Chianakas brothers were among a group of 100 World War II veterans who had been flown to the nation’s capital that morning for an all-expenses-paid tour. Arranged and conducted by an organization called Honor Flight Chicago, the tour included the new National World War II Memorial as well as the other major Washington monuments….
See the rest of my op-ed piece in the 11.11.11 Chicago Tribune at this address:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-10/news/ct-perspec-1111-honor-20111110_1_honor-veterans-honor-flights-honor-mothers
Written by : Patrick T. Reardon
For more than three decades Patrick T. Reardon was an urban affairs writer, a feature writer, a columnist, and an editor for the Chicago Tribune. In 2000 he was one of a team of 50 staff members who won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Now a freelance writer and poet, he has contributed chapters to several books and is the author of Faith Stripped to Its Essence. His website is https://patricktreardon.com/.