FLIGHT HOME MEMORIAL
More Than Two Decades in the Making.
A community-built memorial dedicated to America’s Prisoners of War and those still Missing in Action — ensuring their service, sacrifice, and stories are never forgotten.
NEW LENOX, ILLINOIS • THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
EARLY 2000’s
An Idea Takes Root
The story of the Flight Home Memorial began more than two decades ago at the Thomas E. Hartung American Legion Post 1977 in New Lenox, Illinois.
In the early 2000s, Post leadership began discussing the idea of bringing a static military aircraft to the Legion grounds — a permanent display that could honor those who served and create a place for future generations to remember.
The Post entered the process through TACOM — the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command — and joined what was then a waiting list for available military equipment.
The idea was there. The desire was there. But years passed, and the aircraft never came.
TIME TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
2025
More Than an Idea
By 2025, four officers of Post 1977 — John Cap, Anthony Zipzie, Walt Mulloy and Bob Metzger — decided enough time had passed. It was time to turn a decades-old idea into something real.
The vision had also grown.
This would not simply be a military aircraft on display. It would become a permanent memorial dedicated to America’s Prisoners of War and those still Missing in Action.
For John, the mission was especially personal. His cousin is one of five servicemen lost together during the Vietnam War — five men whose story would help inspire the project and give it an intensely personal connection to the POW/MIA mission.
Those five would become an important part of the story.
But the memorial would be built for all of them.
Every Prisoner of War. Every American still Missing in Action. Every family that has lived without an answer.
FARM2VETERAN JOINS THE MISSION
LATE 2025
Turning Determination Into Action
In late 2025, Farm2Veteran was brought into the effort, with Michelle Keller helping coordinate the growing project.
What followed was months of letter writing, phone calls, emails, meetings and research.
One of the first discoveries changed the entire strategy: the TACOM process had changed.
There was no longer a traditional waiting list. Available aircraft were handled on a first-come, first-served basis.
That meant waiting was no longer an option.
The team made its request known and continued reaching out, following up and making sure the project stayed on the radar whenever an opportunity became available.
And one thing was clear from the beginning:
We wanted a helicopter.
What kind of helicopter — or whether one would ever become available — no one knew.
BUILDING SUPPORT
2025 – 2026
A Community Begins to Rally
While the search for an aircraft continued, the project itself began gaining momentum.
Meetings were held. Calls were made. Emails were sent. Relationships were built.
Local businesses, unions, Veterans, elected officials, community leaders and other supporters began stepping forward.
What had started years earlier as an idea within the walls of the American Legion was becoming something much larger:
A COMMUNITY BUILT MEMORIAL
Every conversation moved the project another step forward — even when the biggest question remained unanswered.
Would we ever find the helicopter?
ALMOST
MARCH 2026
Hope — and a Setback
At one point, it appeared the search might finally be over.
Another organization had a Huey that offered real hope for the project. For a time, it seemed the aircraft we had been searching for might finally be within reach.
Ultimately, that opportunity fell through.
It was disappointing — but it didn’t end the mission.
The calls continued.
The emails continued.
The meetings continued.
And the team kept making one thing clear:
If a helicopter became available, New Lenox was ready.
THE CALL
JULY 3, 2026
Everything Changed
Then came the call we had been waiting for.
On July 3, 2026, TACOM contacted the Flight Home Memorial team.
A UH-1 Iroquois — the aircraft generations of Americans know simply as the Huey — was available.
After more than two decades of waiting, hoping, asking, searching and refusing to give up, the Flight Home Memorial had its centerpiece.
Paperwork. Transportation. Cranes. Logistics. Community coordination. Site planning. Volunteers.
The question was no longer whether we could find a helicopter.
The Huey was coming home.
THE FLIGHT HOME
SEPTEMBER 2026
Bringing the Huey Home
Securing the Huey was only the beginning.
The aircraft had to make its way from Virginia to its new home at Thomas E. Hartung American Legion Post 1977 in New Lenox.
That journey required transportation partners, crane operators, law enforcement coordination, Veterans organizations, motorcycle riders, volunteers and supporters working across multiple states.
And on September 18, 2026 — National POW/MIA Recognition Day — the Huey is scheduled to complete that journey home.
Not hidden away in a warehouse.
Not forgotten on a military storage lot.
But headed to a community that has spent more than two decades waiting for it.
THE CENTERPIECE, NOT THE FINISH LINE
WHAT COMES NEXT
The Hardest Piece Is Here. The Work Continues.
Securing the Huey is an extraordinary milestone — and, in our eyes, one of the hardest pieces of this project to accomplish.
But the Huey itself is not the memorial.
There is still much to do.
The permanent memorial must be designed, engineered, funded and built. The stories it will preserve must be researched and told. The site must become a place worthy of the men and women it represents.
The aircraft gives the memorial its centerpiece.
The community will build everything around it.
And when the Flight Home Memorial is complete, it will stand not simply as a monument to five men or one helicopter crew, but as a permanent place of remembrance for all American Prisoners of War and those who remain Missing in Action.
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
The Journey Continues
The Flight Home Memorial is being built one phone call, one donation, one volunteer, one partnership and one act of remembrance at a time.
Help us bring this memorial to life.