OREANDA-NEWS. August 30, 2013. A specially-commissioned exhibit commemorating the history and heroism of two Lithuanian-American pilots made its way across the City of Chicago from Midway International Airport to O'Hare International.  

The poster exhibit - "We Shall Fly to Lithuania", is comprised of family photographs, newspaper clippings and certificates of honor, tells the story of Captain Stepanos Darius and Lieutenant Stasys Girenas, whose families originally emigrated from Lithuania to the Chicago neighborhoods of Bridgeport and Marquette Park. 
 
In 1933, these pilots built an aircraft - the Lithuanica - near Midway and flew the plane from Chicago to New York. From there, they departed on a historic nonstop, trans-Atlantic voyage to their homeland of Lithuania.

The pilots successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean, but experienced a tragic end as their aircraft crashed outside a small village in Germany, just 650 kilometers short of their goal of Kaunas, Lithuania. The flight of the Lithuanica is said to have equaled, and some say surpassed, American aviator Charles Lindbergh's 1927 solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris in the single-seat, single-engine Spirit of St. Louis.
 
The posters can be found past security checkpoints in Terminal 3, just before the L Concourse.
 
"This exhibit will expose travelers and employees to the culture of Lithuania, whose population in Chicago is the largest anywhere outside of Lithuania itself," said Rosemarie S.Andolino, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA). "It is also a wonderful way to honor Darius and Girenas and to celebrate the 80th anniversary of their historic flight".
 
"We Shall Fly to Lithuania" debuted at Midway International Airport on July 18, 2013.