Honor Flight Chicago expands trips to include Desert Shield and Desert Storm veterans

There's a really exciting expansion happening with the Honor Flight. That's the group that takes veterans to Washington, D.C. to see the statues that stand in their honor. So now even more veterans, including a new generation, will get their chance to go. Saquon is there. Hey, Sae. Hey, guys. You guys took the words right out of my mouth. So there you have it. You know, you can see that we're here at Navy Pier right now gearing up for a pretty big, you know, event here. Obviously, they're getting ready to jet off to D.C. here, and we're talking a little bit about that memorial. And joining us this morning to talk more about it is Scott. But let's talk a little bit about this. I mean, right now there's a whole crew of people inside Margaritaville here at Navy Pier as they get ready for this big event. Give us a little idea as to what's going to be happening here in the next 15 minutes or so. Well, I guess the good and the bad for me personally is we're going to announce, they're going to announce that Honor Flight Chicago is going to open up the flights to Washington to a new generation of veterans. And the bad news for me is I'm a part of that generation. generation and just never envisioned myself being old enough to be on an honor flight but here we are well and and you know Honor Flight Chicago has you know sent so many of our veterans from you know World War II and the Korean War and the Vietnam War on these all paid you know trips to DC and now you know we're talking about Desert Shield and Desert Storm how does that feel for you i mean how does it feel right now just being surrounded by all of these people out here who we're getting ready to celebrate that one thing. Well it feels a little bit surreal because I have a connection to Chicago and Honor Flight Chicago. I actually was on a flight as a guardian with two of my friends down in Indiana back in 2009 and I saw the impact that that trip had on them. I saw what it meant to them for the rest of their lives. They were 94 and 86 at the time and it's just very surreal to think that an idea that I conceptualized and worked on over the last 16 years is actually going to have the same impact on this new crop and new generation of veterans so cool that they get to do this and we know that it sounds like you know there's still signups and stuff available for eligible you know Desert Storm and Desert Shield veterans it sounds like well it's just opening actually and i know that the um back in march i had the honor and the distinction of being able to present at the Honor Flights national conference and they open the eligibility and of course some chapters or some flights as they call them have a little bit more of a waiting list than others but some are actually going to be joining us on site at the actual dedication ceremony this Saturday. Wow and let's talk a little bit about that dedication ceremony I mean obviously that's a huge deal in and of itself and in Washington D.C. you got the national memorial I mean like how does that feel just knowing that this is all coming up for you very soon here and you get to be all a part of this well you know it's not really about me i don't um i'm not excited i guess i'm too tired out at this point to be excited but i'm very gratified to know that right on the national mall this this memorial is located adjacent to the lincoln memorial knowing that this era these people who served almost 700 000 answered the call and we had close to 400 who made the ultimate sacrifice that story and their legacy is going to live on and that's what that's what gives me a sense of satisfaction. Yeah. And, you know, just talking with some of the veterans who were inside Margaritaville today, you know, some of them actually did use the words excitement to describe how they're feeling today. So I just wanted to reiterate that as well. As we get ready for, you know, this huge day here, you know, we know that there's going to be a press conference here pretty soon. There's going to be a presentation of the colors. Can you walk us through what we're expecting here? Just give us kind of the rundown of, you know, the order of events. Do you do you happen to know? You might be asking the wrong guy. I'm going to do my part, And I know that there will be some commentary made by the Honor Flight Chicago, you know, leaders. And, of course, there will be, hopefully, we'll have a large group of Desert Shield and Desert Storm veterans here who can relish in hearing that news and feel good about their service so long ago. Absolutely. Thank you so much for your time, Scott. Really appreciate it. To kind of run through the plans, it does sound like that Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Honor Guard is going to be presenting the colors here at 1130. It's going to be followed by a news conference where they were going to be detailing a little bit. And they're gearing up for a busy, busy event. So we'll bring that coverage to you live here in the next 30 minutes. Back to you. All right. It's always moving to see them when they get off the plane and they're welcomed by that welcome committee. And when they fly back home, they're also greeted by that welcome committee. Always awesome to see. Say thank you.