tonight on "nightline," helping our heroes. they put the lives on the line for the country they love and paid a steep price. tonight the amazing way some veterans are working to give back to america's wounded warriors. extreme mileage hoarders, they're not rich, but they vacation all over the world, all in first-class, for next to nothing. the extreme lengths they go to snag free miles and some secret tips for you. and sophia on fire, that switch-blade tongue, those dangerous curves, tonight sofia vergara tells us where here character comes from and what she leaves offscreen.

good evening, i'm terry moran. as you know, today is a day for our heroes, those who put their lives on the line for what matters most, the men and women of america's armed forces. as we all know, from a long decade of war, many never return from battles abroad and many who do return are never the same. injuries seen and unseen. but as only heroes can, they don't complain. instead they've taken things into their own hands. here's abc's bob woodruff of those who defend the american dream. >> it was november 2004 when dale bady and his best friend john gallina were in iraq, returning from a mission. >> we had been up late that night, preparing the vehicle. it was a last-minute, you know, hey, here, tomorrow you're going out on this mission. >> so we were taking a video of us, filming everybody in the

trucks, took a little video, put it back in my pocket, and right then we got hurt. >> reporter: the explosion rocked their humvee, 200 feet in the air. john suffered a brain injury and back wounds. dale lost both his legs and spent more than a year at walter reed hospital recovering. when they finally got back to north carolina, dale was struggling to adjust to life at home. >> after leaving the hospital where there's elevators and ramps and coming home to the real world, and you see that you've got to make some nifg changes in your lifestyle. his house wasn't equipped for a double amputee. seeing his friend struggled, john felt compelled to help, so he teamed up with some local builders to construct a new house for dale, to give him the nps he so rightly deserved. >> and i come home, and have so much help from this community, and it was such a good feeling for me. and for me and my family, we really had the best case

scenario for somebody who had been injured as bad as i was. >> reporter: when the work was done, dale and john were inspired, and decided to dedicate their lives to building and retrofitting homes for disabled veterans. >> after we came home from iraq, looking around in our communities, we saw that there were still greater needs that were not being met. >> reporter: they started a foundation and called it purple heart homes. >> our goal is simply to pay it forward, just one bit. >> reporter: dale and john hope to bring america back to those glorious days after world war ii, when veterans were cheered and embraced by their communities. >> you need to understand it's about community. it's about lifting up those that have served and sacrificed and in that, you know, we found a way that we can say, we believe. >> reporter: they soon discovered there are more than 17,000 veterans living in their county alone, and every thursday morning a group gathers here in

richard's coffee shop. that's how they met dave morale. >> hay, dave. >> who served two tours with special forces in vietnam. the war cost him a leg. >> this just comes off. >> reporter: they learned that he was forced to crawl from his bedroom to his bathroom because his wheelchair and walker wouldn't fit through the doors. he said the va wouldn't pay to fix it because he's missing only one limb. >> you have to be double. a single amputee, the best i can get is a wheelchair, one ramp. but to actually have the house physically adapted, i don't qualify. >> reporter: were you outranled by this, that people didn't know these guys couldn't even get in their showers? >> no, i think it was such a shock there was no time for outrage. there's only time to do something about it. >> reporter: so they did.

they knocked down a wall and built an addition onto his home, with a new bedroom and accessible bathroom so dave can roll right in. >> going from a volkswagen to a cadillac, it's a nice upgrade. that's what this is, it's an upgrade, and it is nice. >> reporter: there are more than three million american veterans with disabilities connected to their service. when dale and john met kevin smith, he could barely get in and out of his house. he says he's often felt unappreciated because vietnam was such an unpopular war. >> and the community has woke up and said, hey, maybe we were wrong. and -- >> just sitting there talking to him that first day, just brought tears to his eyes. he had never been told, welcome home. >> reporter: with the help of a handful of neighbors, purple heart homes built him a wooden

ramp to help ease his burden. >> just feels good to know that people care about their country -- again. >> everyone standing here, you're all a part of the purple heart homes team, so take care of buddy. >> reporter: their foundation is hitting its stride, recruiting dozens of volunteers from wells fargo to help put the finishing touches on the home of sergeant buddy mays, hit by a roadside bomb in iraq in 2005, breaking his back and leaving him paralyzed. he returned to a home not built for a man restricted to a wheelchair. >> i don't want to sound like complaining by saying it's hard in a chair, but it ain't easy. >> reporter: it was hard on his two girls. >> my girls are my life. they've seen the trials, the struggles, just the daily, mundane, hard stuff that most kids wouldn't have to see.

>> reporter: so the team worked to widen the doors, repaint every wall, and build an outdoor elevator, so that buddy could get to the backyard to play with his daughter. >> it's really up to us, it's up to the community to take ownership for the people who go fight and die and bleed for us. >> reporter: dale and john were there to help move the family in, just in time for the holidays. >> nice to be back at home. yeah, back at home. this is something that will last forever. >> simply amazing. all my independence is back, finally. finally! >> just like the spirit of volunteers that we have here today, the community turned out. we commend each and every one of you and i hope that you go and share with others. >> reporter: but to close the day, buddy wheeled out to the

front yard, to the flag poll, to raise the flag he fought to defend. it may not have been part of the plan, but buddy insisted he should stand. >> there's no one greater in our community that deserves to live comfortably and with dignity in their home than those that have served and sacrificed for our freedom. ♪ >> i'm bod woodruff for "nightline." >> what a great story. what a great mission. thanks to bob and all our veterans. up next, find out how these people are traveling the globe first class for next to nothing. hello, it is i your boss. great news! the video call went very very well. asia is on board. too bad you couldn't participate. probably you were worried about overages

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well, here we are at the start of the summer travel season and your dollar might not feel like it stretches as far as it used to, but tonight you'll meet some everyday travelers who found ways to fly around the world for little or no money. if that sounds too good to be true, you've never seen the extreme measures these folks are willing to go to rack up

frequent flyer miles. here's jon donovan. >> reporter: this is where rick ingersoll gets to go practically for free whenever he goes flying, to the front of the line at the check-in counter, to the first-class lounge, to seats like these at the front of the airplane, first-class and business class. and the places he and his wife have gone together, such as -- >> we've gon to athens and then to dubrov nick and croatia, then up to split, all in croatia, then up to amsterdam and back. >> total cost, just the taxes, $60 each, plus 120,000 frequent flyer miles each, which sounds impossibly high. but not when you're what rick is, a frequent flyer millionaire. one who wants to teach the rest of us a few tricks on how to be that kind of millionaire also.

>> does anybody in this room applied for a credit card primarily to get a sign youp bonus? [ laughter ] >> reporter: but did you know you can get miles by the millions without ever flying? these folks are smiling because they have been able to do than the first method he recommends, cashing in on credit card bonuses. lots of banks offer sign-up bonuses of 20,000, 40,000, sometimes 70,000 miles or points. isn't that one of things that wreck your credit ratings, applying for a lot of cards? >> everybody thinks it does, but it doesn't. they do an inquiry on your credit report, it costs between two and five points on your credit score. >> reporter: so it's not a big hit. >> not a big hit. >> reporter: still he teaches that people who cannot pay their bills in full every month or who are applying for a mortgage in

the near future should not be playing this game. within the fraternity of extreme frequent flyers it's controversial that any of these secrets are getting out, but rick started a blog called frugal travel guy for the common man and he's holding seminars like this one that drew more than 500 people. all sorts of people, people who will get on a plane and just fly around over the weekend to maximize their mileage and to raise their elite status with an airline. >> one day i flew austin, to dallas, to orange county, california, left the airport, spent five hours with my relatives, then got back on a plane, flew to o'hair, then frankfurt germany, sat in the lounge for an hour, and then back to austin. mileage runs those are called. or you could do a mattress run. lots of hotels offer points that can be converted into airline miles or free hotel nights. of course this can also get extreme when you hear about the

hampton inn offering a bonus. >> i took my son to disney world, hopping from hotels every night. >> so you switched hotels 13 times? >> every night. >> reporter: next method, the rental carbone us, typically you get a few hundred points for a one or two-day rental, but when one company offered 10,000 miles, george went to rent every car off the lot. >> i would get 60 to a hundred thousand miles for a an inexpensive investment. the equivalent of going to europe twice. >> reporter: by now, we were sitting in the first-class section of a parked jet that united airlines kindly let us visit because the point is, even first dallas and business class comes within reach to those who

are frequent flyers million airs. as is evidence by rick's trip this year to the far east. we went to china for ten days, flying from chicago to beijing. went to see the great wall of china, went to see the terracotta warriors, flew into shanghai and came back again, nothing more than taxes. one was maybe $150. >> in business class? >> right. >> price in miles, 110,000 miles each. extreme? perhaps, but only the tip of the techniques talked about at the seminar. but in rick's view, when you're settled back in the big chair, it really will seem worth it. i'm john donovan for "nightline" in chicago. >> racking up the miles with john donovan there. next up, modern family star sofia vergara on life in the spotlight and behind the scenes. and today we are rocking the red carpet.

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that's all the horses sir. ...and the men? all the king's men are here too sir. it doesn't look good. ♪

that's all the horses sir. ...and the men? all the king's men are here too sir. it doesn't look good. ♪

she is the red hot star of the hit sitcom "modern family" and in tonight's encore, sofia vergara talks with my co-anchor cynthia mcfadden. >> i know that i have an accent, but people understand me just fine. >> reporter: it was a role written just for her. >> i called your secretary and hold her to ord a box of baby jesus. >> reporter: she plays gloria on abc's hit comedy "modern family." we got to spend some time with

her backstage at "modern family" and we wondered just how close is he to her character gloria. >> no, it's dirty and it has a spider. >> she's colombian and she has a kid from a previous marriage. she's loud. >> reporter: she has a hot temper. but in real life, she's more than just a hot latin mother that she plays on television. she's a cover girl and a business woman, with her own production company. >> i'm sofia vergara and i'm not afraid to work with what i've got. >> reporter: and a new line of women's clothes at kmart. it's meant to be affordable and fit women with curves, even if your curves rent as good as her curves. >> my collection is at kmart. >> reporter: so are you wearing your line right now? >> this is it. >> and the jewelry? >> jewelry, earrings, everything, the jeans, i mean, everything. >> reporter: so do a little

twirl for me. i wish we could all look like that in the jeans. >> yes, you can look like this in the jeans. they are 29 bucks, and you look like a million dollars. >> reporter: at 39, she was not an overnight success. he's been working hard at making it for 22 years. a natural blonde, she grew up in colombia. she loved playing with barbie dolls and hoped one day that she'd have that barbie figure too. you were skinny? >> yeah. >> reporter: there was a nickname. >> yes, toothpick. >> reporter: she married young at age 18 and had or one and only son, man olo, the following year. >> having him, always made me not go crazy with the fame or anything. i was always more concerned about being a good mother and working to make money, not just to be famous and crazy. >> reporter: so the mothering that we see you do as gloria -- >> now promise me that you will never, ever do anything

dishonest again. >> i promise. >> because that's not the way i raised you. >> reporter: is that the way you are with your son? >> i think she's amazing. i try to learn from her actually. i wish was more like her. >> reporter: oh, my lord. vergara has perfected the art of not taking herself too seriously. >> reporter: only you could have done that. it was like a mermaid. she told me she everyone in walked down the red carpet with her shoes in the wrong feet. >> yes. the right is on the right and the left is on the left. i'm ready. >> reporter: the night we were with her, everything seemed to be in just the right place. >> sofia vergara, thanks to cynthia for that. and thank you for watching abc news this memorial day. we hope you check in for "good morning america." jimmy kimmel is up next and we'll see you here tomorrow.