Chicago organization has plans for the first all-female Honor Flight

A female veteran organization in Chicago is planning an all-female trip to Washington D.C. in honor of their service. 

Veterans organization Operation HerStory hopes to find 100 women who served during WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, or between the years 1940 and 1975, to participate in the Honor Flight, which flies veterans to Washington D.C. to visit the monuments and celebrate their service to our country. 

According to Herald & Review, once completed, it will be the first all-female Honor Flight in the state of Illinois. John Ptak, president of Honor Flight Chicago, says that fewer than 200 of the 8,700 veterans who have participated in the Honor Flight have been women. 

“As a proud father to two daughters, it’s important that they understand that they should take a back seat to no one,” said Ptak “Operation HerStory is really dear to my heart in teaching them that lesson, that their contributions — just like those women who proudly have served our country — should be recognized, to the same extent that anyone else who wears that uniform should be.”

Nearly 40 female veterans have signed up already for the flight that will depart on October 7th and return later that day after the group tours the Women In Military Service for America Memorial and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.

“A lot of the women didn’t even know they were veterans because they were not considered veterans back then,” said Ginny Narsete, the founder of Operation HerStory and a retired master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force.

“They were reluctant to take these flights — they are reluctant to take their place because they didn’t know if they qualified.”

Narsete says that she hopes this flight will help female veterans accept the honor and recognition that they deserve. 

“Isn’t it time for women to step up out of the shadows?” Narsete added.