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CHICAGO (TheBlaze/AP) — A group of Marines on their way home from Afghanistan got more than a few pleasant surprises upon after their plane touched down upon U.S. soil.
After spending the better part of five days getting on and off planes as they traveled from one side of the globe to another, the 13 Marines found themselves treated like heroes at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
Thirteen Marines walking through a terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport during part of their journey back home after a tour of duty in Afghanistan. (Image source: AP/Courtesy of American Airlines, Vic Ysais)
Monday night’s welcome home started with a phone call.
Stephanie Hare, a native of Illinois who now works in England, called the USO at O’Hare and explained that her fiance, Capt. Pravin Rajan, who had served seven months in Afghanistan, was with a dozen other Marines on a plane bound for Chicago from Baltimore.
“I just thought if they could get them some Chicago pizza, champagne or something, that would mean a lot,†she said.
On the other end of the line was John Colas, a 74-year-old former Marine USO volunteer. He told Hare he’d try to do something in the hour or so before the flight landed. But he cautioned that while volunteers make an effort to welcome military personnel whenever they come through the airport, he wasn’t sure he could pull anything off in such a short time.
Colas got on the phone with the police and fire departments, the airlines and anyone else he could think of.
“There must have been 15 Chicago firemen and an equal number of Chicago police and they formed a corridor for the Marines when they got off the airplane,†he said.
Nice
After spending the better part of five days getting on and off planes as they traveled from one side of the globe to another, the 13 Marines found themselves treated like heroes at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
Thirteen Marines walking through a terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport during part of their journey back home after a tour of duty in Afghanistan. (Image source: AP/Courtesy of American Airlines, Vic Ysais)Monday night’s welcome home started with a phone call.
Stephanie Hare, a native of Illinois who now works in England, called the USO at O’Hare and explained that her fiance, Capt. Pravin Rajan, who had served seven months in Afghanistan, was with a dozen other Marines on a plane bound for Chicago from Baltimore.
“I just thought if they could get them some Chicago pizza, champagne or something, that would mean a lot,†she said.
On the other end of the line was John Colas, a 74-year-old former Marine USO volunteer. He told Hare he’d try to do something in the hour or so before the flight landed. But he cautioned that while volunteers make an effort to welcome military personnel whenever they come through the airport, he wasn’t sure he could pull anything off in such a short time.
Colas got on the phone with the police and fire departments, the airlines and anyone else he could think of.
“There must have been 15 Chicago firemen and an equal number of Chicago police and they formed a corridor for the Marines when they got off the airplane,†he said.
Nice
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