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Welcoming Lansing veterans home

Legion Riders invite the Lansing community to greet returning Honor Flight participants

by Melanie Jongsma

LANSING, Ill. (July 11, 2018) – The American Legion Riders from Edward Schultz Chapter 697 will be gathering at Sunrise Health Foods (17650 Torrence Avenue) at 9:30pm on Wednesday, July 11, to receive two Lansing veterans who will be returning from a day-long experience with Honor Flight Chicago.

The Lansing community is invited to join the welcome.

The two veterans are Harold Sonny Myers and Donald B. Krueger. After a day in Washington, DC, they will be flying back to Midway Airport Wednesday night.

Traditionally, Honor Flight Chicago returnees were honored with a welcome ceremony at the airport, but increased security concerns limited the access and participation allowed, and more recently, construction at Midway has dramatically reduced the onsite welcome activities. Now the Honor Flight participants typically are driven back to Lansing by family, and representatives from the Legion Riders, Lansing Police Department, and Lansing Fire Department meet them as they exit the highway onto Torrence. After a brief welcome in the parking lot of Sunrise, the veterans are given a hero’s escort—with sirens, lights, and entourage—to their homes or to the American Legion.

No RSVP is required. Anyone who wishes to welcome Myers and Krueger home is invited to meet at the American Legion at 9:00pm or at Sunrise Health Foods at 9:30pm.

Honor Flight
This group was part of the welcome on October 11, 2017, when veterans Bob Chambers and Rich Zaremba returned home to Lansing after the last Honor Flight of the 2017 season. (Photo: Melanie Jongsma)

Related: What the welcome is all about

 

Melanie Jongsma
Melanie Jongsma
Melanie Jongsma grew up in Lansing, Illinois, and believes The Lansing Journal has an important role to play in building community through trustworthy information.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you to those that have served our country then and now.

    A co-worker who is traveling from the west coast to the east coast this evening who was lucky enough to have the honor of being at Midway when these soldiers went through. He just sent me an amazing video of the respect given these men, it was an honor to view, the bagpipes choke me up every time.

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