Visiting Hawaii is a dream come true for a lot of people, but for one Minnesota teen who’s battled a rare disease most of his life, the dream included checking out the island chain’s rich military history – and one storied Army unit made that come true.
Video by Army Staff Sgt. Alan Brutus
Transcript
Alex Hipp: My name is Alex Hipp. I’m from Minnesota. I’m down here in Hawaii because last year I had a bone-marrow transplant and I got a Make-A-Wish. And my wish is to come to Hawaii and see the military installations down here. Every second it got better and better. It started off first with just a few things that I knew about. I was told I was gonna go see some simulators, and I was very excited about that. The simulators were very impressive, amazing. It’s a lot of fun, and then getting to actually ride in a Black Hawk was the best experience of my life.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dan Farrell: As soon as I found out that I was gonna be flying a Make-a-Wish flight, I was super excited. The entire crew was super excited, and having that opportunity to take someone on a fun helicopter ride and share a little bit of what you do on a daily basis is the most fun that I get to have in my job.
Alex Hipp: Knowing that this is not something that most typical people can ever get was amazing. I do not, I don’t have the words to describe how thankful I am. You know, I want to thank everybody. All the military personnel and everyone down here so much. Thank you so much.