Northwestern Alumna Lifts WWII Vets Through Honor Flight Chicago

EVANSTON, Ill. --- This Veterans Day, Northwestern faculty, staff and students honor America’s veterans in a variety of ways, from documentary tributes to Honor Flights. Even President Barack Obama singled out the University’s veterans when he visited Northwestern Oct. 2.

Veterans Day highlights:

• Mary Pettinato, a 2008 graduate of Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, is the founder of Honor Flight Chicago, which honors America’s World War II veterans by flying them on one-day trips to visit the WWII Memorial and other major monuments in Washington, D.C. Most of these veterans are in their 80s and 90s, and the trip is billed as a homecoming celebration. “Well, I’ve never been to heaven,” said one elderly veteran on one of the trips, “but I’m guessing today is mighty close.”

- More about Pettinato: http://btn.com/2014/11/08/btn-livebig-covering-an-nu-alumnas-program-for-wwii-vets-was-a-real-honor/#sthash.bDfYOlQA.dpuf

- More on Honor Flight Chicago: http://honorflightchicago.org/mnu-home

• Northwestern School of Communication lecturer Michael Attie produced an adaption of his film “In Country” for The New York Times to mark Veterans Day. The film honors Vietnam War veterans who gave so much during a time of turmoil and discord in America. Attie is a lecturer in the department of radio/television/film and the associate director of the department’s new master of fine arts program in documentary media. “In Country,” his most recent feature film, had its world premiere at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and its international premiere at Hot Docs in Toronto.

 - Attie’s film adaption in The New York Times: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/11/opinion-nyt-attie-vietnam.html

• Marine Corps veteran Alex Deitchman never dreamed he’d get a coveted ticket to see President Barack Obama speak at Northwestern University, Oct. 2, let alone receive a personal “shout out” from the commander-in-chief. Yet, when the president thanked veterans for their service at Cahn Auditorium, he directed it toward Deitchman, a political science major at Northwestern, and other members of Northwestern University’s Veterans Association. “We’ve sent more veterans to college on the Post-9/11 GI Bill -- including several veterans here at Northwestern -- and a few here with us today in this hall,” Obama said. “Thank you for your service.”

-More about veterans and Obama’s visit to Northwestern at: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/10/northwestern-veterans-earn-special-salute-from-president.html

• U.S. Army Capt. Benjamin Cushman Dowell is a second-year student in Kellogg’s full-time MBA program and the president of the Kellogg Student Association. The veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wrote a blog post about President Obama’s visit to Northwestern. See: “President Obama Thanks a Soldier” at: http://wp.me/p2dBYj-Pp

• Navy Seal Tom Hruby received an honor of a different sort this football season, one he called a dream come true. The 33-year-old father of three made his debut on the Northwestern football team this month, a few days shy of Veterans Day. For more on Hruby’s latest achievement, click here.