'Welcome Home': New Lenox Veteran Makes Honor Flight Trip To D.C.

NEW LENOX, IL — Howard Hook finally got the "Welcome home" Wednesday that he's been waiting on for the past 55 years.

It was in 1967 that Hook finished his four-year tour in the Navy. He had been stationed on the U.S.S. Hancock — based out of Alameda, California — as an Electrician's Mate 3rd Class. When his tour was up, Hook said, Vietnam War veterans were rarely given a hero's welcome when they returned. Often, it was quite the opposite.

Opposition toward the Vietnam War, and toward those who served their country during that time, has been well documented over the years. Some veterans were spit on, others called "baby killers," and many were just flat out ignored by those in the veterans' own communities.

But time tends to heal old wounds — and along with it, people's attitudes. So it was the case when Hook and his fellow veterans made their Honor Flight trip Wednesday to Washington, D.C.

Hook's Honor Flight departed from Chicago Midway International Airport Wednesday at 7:20 a.m. The group of veterans on the flight — including two from WWII, five from the Korean War and more than 100 from the Vietnam War — spent the day in D.C. going to the various war memorials and made a trip to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Hook was accompanied on the Honor Flight trip by his niece Amanda Ambrose, of Chicago Ridge, who helped shuttle him around to all of the sights.

"It was really a quick day but a wonderful day," Hook said. "All of the veterans were happy. Nobody was complaining about anything."

That was all well and good, Hook said. But the biggest highlights of the Honor Flight came on the return trip home.

When Hook and the other veterans were on the flight back, they all received packages containing letters of appreciation and congratulations from family, friends and an assortment of dignitaries, something Hook said he was not expecting.

"Everybody got an envelope with the letters," he said. "And there's a big stack in there from kids and executive people and my family. I'm really impressed by that."

Hook and his fellow veterans returned to Midway at around 9:30 p.m. When the plane landed, the Chicago Fire Department was waiting to give the veterans' plane a water cannon salute. Inside the terminal bagpipers played, friends and family cheered the group on and Hook finally felt like he was truly welcomed home.

"Everybody was cheering us on and saying 'Welcome home' because we never got a 'Welcome home' back then," Hook said. "So, now when we see a veteran from Vietnam, we say, 'Welcome Home.' Thats a big thing."

Even on Thursday, when he had time to rest and take it all in before speaking with Patch, the emotions of the return trip home were, at times, a bit overwhelming. But, Hook wanted to make sure that his appreciation toward those who supported him was known.

"A hearty 'Thank you very much.' It was very emotional," he said.