Suburban residents mark Memorial Day

Suburban residents started a muggy Memorial Day with a flag-raising ceremony in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines Monday morning.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2992 and American Legion Post 36 conducted the flag-raising and wreath-laying service at the cemetery’s Veterans Memorial area.

That early morning remembrance was just one of a series across the Northwest and West suburbs planned for Memorial Day 2012.

In Arlington Heights, the annual parade was organized to especially honor Vietnam veterans who were invited to attend. The Vietnam Veteran of America organization members were marching in the parade. A post-parade ceremony will feature a tribute to the village’s fallen hero, as well as a 200-voice choir made up of members of local churches and schools.

A particularly poignant remembrance is expected in Wheaton after the death last week in Afghanistan of U.S. Army Spc. Samuel Watts. Watts, 20, was died from injuries suffered from a roadside bomb. He was the fifth soldier killed in current wars from Wheaton.

Other ceremonies, observances and parades are under way across the suburbs as residents salute the service and sacrifice of America’s military throughout history.