Chilean Miners in US for Thanksgiving 'Heroes' Event

(Nov. 18) -- The 33 freed Chilean miners landed in the United States this morning to be special guests at an annual Thanksgiving event honoring heroes.

The men, who survived more than two months underground after a mine shaft collapsed in August, are about to get the chance to savor their new-found celebrity. As they walked off the plane at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport today, many of them said it was their first time in the United States.

"I want to see the world," one miner, 27-year-old Richard Villarroell, told CNN. "I know all of Chile, but not the rest of the world."

Villarroell and his colleagues are heading to Los Angeles for the annual "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute." Before they appear at the event, the miners will be kicking off their first ensemble appearance in the U.S. with a tour of Hollywood.

Another miner, 40-year-old Mario Sepulveda, brought a traditional Chilean hat. "It's the hat of a Chilean cowboy," he told CNN. "I am going as a representative of the Chilean people."

The men were freed from the gold and copper mine in Chile's Atacama desert in mid-October in a massive effort that sent a pod-like rescue tube deep into the earth in order to bring each miner back to the surface one-by-one.

In August, viewers around the globe watched incredulously as footage from deep inside the mine showed that the men were alive, 17 days after a mine shaft collapsed around them. For months, engineers, NASA doctors and mining experts converged on the site near Copiapo, Chile, as they worked to keep the men healthy and, ultimately, rescue them.

Even before they were freed from the galley that could have been their tomb, the men were deluged with offers for book and movie deals, but they made a pact to profit from their celebrity as a group. Some of the men have said they have no need for fame.

"The only thing I'll ask of you is that you don't treat me as an artist or a journalist, but as a miner," Sepulveda told reporters after he was rescued. "I was born a miner and I'll die a miner."