Oh yes, FLY AMERICAN !
BOB FLETCHER
US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
Military Design Section, 10th Floor S.W.
SACRAMENTO DISTRICT, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, 95814-2922
PH. (916) 557-7235
-----Original Message-----
Subject: Returning Soldiers Sample Home Turf
FLY AMERICAN!
Returning Soldiers Sample Home Turf
By Patrick Kampert- Chicago Tribune staff reporter
November 2, 2003
When naval reservist Don Hodory recently returned from the war in
Iraq,he and other soldiers found a surprise waiting just inside the door of
the American
Airlines jet that was to take them home: a 5-foot-long piece of sod
from a Chicago-area nursery.
The grassy strip is the brainstorm of American flight attendant Kate
Pantorilla, an Ingleside resident, who wanted to give the men and women w!
ho served
their country a chance to set foot on U.S. soil long before they
entered U.S. airspace.
"It was the first time I saw grass in seven months," said Hodory, 34,
a non-commissioned officer who is back in Woodstock trying to rejuvenate his
stained-glass studio. "I lay down and rubbed my face in it. I stroked
it. I held it in my hands like it was a newborn baby." Hodory's fatherly
tenderness is
understandable--his wife, Lauri, just gave birth to twins--but
Pantorilla, 56, said many returning troops have similar reactions to the
sod.
"We roll it out and tell them it's U.S. soil," said Pantorilla, a
35-year veteran of the airline. "They'll touch it to make sure it's not
stroturf. They've taken their
shoes off to step on it. Some kiss it. I've had a couple guys do a
football roll into it."
The sod ceremony is just as emotional for Pantorilla and her fellow
flight attendants. "The crew are a mess," she said. "We're all at the age
where we could
be their mothers. We're just so pleased to see them and give them
hugs."
Pantorilla has handled about 20 planeloads of U.S. soldiers coming
home from undisclosed locations in the Middle East. Before each flight, she
picks up a
roll of sod from Castle Gardens Nursery and Garden Center in Volo,
where the owners have donated the grass for the cause. Her husband, Ernie,
58, also
an American flight attendant, devised a carrying case for her that
involves two large garbage bags and a handle.
"When I get to the hotel, I roll it out on a piece of plastic and
sprinkle a little Evian or tap water on it. I want to make sure it's nice
and green when I get
there," she said.
The sod isn't the only surprise Pantorilla and her cohorts cook up for
their heroes in uniform. The back of her skirt features a U.S. flag while a
sign on the
back of her shirt reads, "Saddam, kiss my flag."
"I go to the front of each cabin," she said. "I stand up on the seat
and say, `This is from the entire crew for you.' And I turn around and take
my jacket off,
and that's when they go crazy."
Some soldiers sign the flag on her derriere. Others sign any number of
American flags festooned throughout the plane. Still others are recruited by
the flight
attendants to assist in serving their fellow soldiers with hot towels
and beverages throughout the flight. Here's how Pantorilla announces her
"helpers,"
decked out in wigs or scarves, over the P.A. system: "We've recruited
four flight attendants from the defunct Saddam My A-- Airways: Brenda from
Baghdad, Tammi from Tikrit, Fran from Fajullah and Mimi from Mosul.
They don't speak English, but they do like having their pictures taken."
Some soldiers get wolf calls or dollar bills from their fellow
warriors as they sashay through the jetliner. "The cameras are going the
entire time those guys
are in the aisle," Pantorilla said.
Hodory was one of the servers on his flight, and he will never forget
Pantorilla. "She made coming home outstandingly fun, other than the fact
that she
made me dress up in drag and serve food," he laughed.
"But being in the military as long as I have, I didn't question
anything. I became Brenda from Baghdad, all the way down to the lipstick."
An American Airlines spokeswoman would not discuss its flights
involving U.S. troops for security reasons, but Hodory said his experience
with Pantorilla
has sold him on the airline for life.
"It was unbelievable that they had gone to all that trouble for us,"
he said