Oak Trace executive director is long-time Honor Flight Chicago volunteer

Dan Harrington has many great interests and hobbies, including but not limited to playing ice hockey and golfing. However, volunteering with Honor Flight Chicago is one of the things he loves best.

Harrington, executive director of Oak Trace senior living community in Downers Grove, has volunteered with Honor Flight Chicago for 12 years, according to a Oak Trace news release. The not-for-profit organization takes American veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials that honor their service.

Harrington has worked in senior living for 22 years. When veterans living at the communities he managed started sharing their Honor Flight experiences with him, he quickly signed on to volunteer with the organization.

In addition to recruiting residents to participate in the experience, Harrington began volunteering to help see them off from the airport. Soon after, he started traveling with veterans as a guardian and bus captain.

Harrington accompanies the heroes on Honor Flights monthly throughout each summer. On July 14, he participated in his 33rd Honor Flight.

“Thank you are the two most powerful words in the English language. Being a volunteer for Honor Flight Chicago gives me the opportunity to say, ‘thank you’ to our heroes,” Harrington said in the release.