It started as a creative writing assignment, one that showed a heart-felt thank-you letter is worth much more than the paper on which it's written.

Sixth-grade teacher Rose Bumber asked her class at Hadley Middle School in Homer Glen to write thank-you letters earlier this fall to men and women who would be participating in an upcoming tour of memorials in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Honor Flight Chicago. On return flights, volunteers run a “mail call,” distributing letters from family, friends, and sometimes strangers to the veterans.

“I said, ‘That could be a letter that one of you writes.' That seemed to really spark their interest,” Bumber said. Her students watched a short documentary on Honor Flight Chicago's website and began writing letters, signing them simply with their first names and school.

Several weeks later, student Sydney Stuart was surprised to hear Bumber tell the class a veteran had written back. As there aren't many Sydneys at Hadley, it was easy for teachers to track down the writer.

“I want to thank you for the thought you put into your letter,” Lee Mazur, who served in the Army in the early 1950s, wrote. He continued describing the day and closed by saying it was a “day to remember for the rest of my life.”

Mazur was on the Oct. 5 Honor Flight, along with 106 other veterans and numerous volunteers who take care of every detail, he said. After a day of travel, they returned late at night to crowds greeting them and thanking them at the airport. The letters he received were “so sweet and so nice,” Mazur said. He created a thank you that included a photo of him as a young soldier and one from the day of the Honor Flight to send back to anyone who offered their return address.

“It was something. ... Just out of nowhere to have people shaking your hand and thanking you for protecting America,” Mazur said. He wants to encourage other veterans to sign up for the Honor Flight waiting list. “Sixty years later to have someone say, ‘who would you like to take a trip?' How can you refuse it?”

Mazur, who returned from the Army in 1953 to raise a family in Park Ridge, spent nearly two years stationed in Nuremberg, Germany.

“It was something to be taken half way around the world and told you are going to help protect these people,” Mazur said. While soldiers were in combat in the Korean War, he was part of the armed forces showing strength against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

“We did nothing but war maneuvers the whole time,” Mazur said.

Stuart, 11, said she was excited to be able to write to veterans for her assignment.

“It was kind of easy. But it was a little bit hard, because you're thankful but it's hard to put it in words,” Stuart said.

“I came back and told the students, they really did make a difference. … Sydney was very proud and touched that he reached out,” Bumber said.

Mary Pettinato, one of Honor Flight Chicago's founders, said veterans can be touched in many ways during each flight.

As they spend a day being the recipients of honor and thanks, they in turn feel a profound gratitude. In some cases, they also experience a renewed sense of ability. Often they will say they are too old to travel, but once the day is finished, they look forward to more adventure.

“Now they travel. They go see their great grandchildren,” Pettinato said. And their own children, who watch their fathers and mothers being treated as heroes, may see their parents in a new light.

Pettinato said letters like Stuart's are also an important part of each flight. As the veterans are in their 80s or older, many have outlived their spouses or friends and even children.

“We love letters from the kids,” Pettinato said. It's not uncommon to see veterans passing letters up and down the plane's aisle to share with one another, she said. “In my mind … this is a lesson of saying ‘thanks.' We must say thanks every chance we get for all our freedoms.”

People who would like to write to veterans can address letters to Honor Flight Chicago Mail Call, 6688 Joliet Road, Indian Head Park, IL 60525. They may be addressed to specific veterans and received by the Thursday prior to the flight. Other letters may be addressed simply to “World War II Veteran (or Hero)” or Korean War Veteran (or Hero)”.

Paige Fumo Fox is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.