St. Charles celebrates veterans with proclamation

St. Charles officials celebrated Veterans Day by issuing a proclamation honoring all men and women who have earned the right to be called veterans. The acceptance of the proclamation by Ret. Lt. Col. Angelo DiLiberti of South Elgin served as a prelude to the city's full celebration by connecting thoughts of past and previous military service.

DiLiberti served in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. He is now an active member of American Legion Post 342 in St. Charles. DiLiberti told an audience of city residents and local high school students Friday the U.S. remains "the greatest country in the world" despite the desire of ISIS and other terrorist groups to tear it down.

"I don't know if any of you have ever seen any of the things that (ISIS) has been doing," DiLiberti said. "It is horrible. They are terrible people. They have no regard for life. They have a creed that it's up to them to kill people like you and me. We are considered infidels."

The city's Veterans Day proclamation makes special effort to emphasize that veterans from all conflicts, regardless of individual sentiments about the value of those conflicts, should be honored.

"We do not memorialize war, but we memorialize and honor all those who have gone to war for our country, and especially those who did not come home and that includes those who are still listed as prisoners of war or missing in action from ANY conflict," the proclamation reads.

The city's official Veterans Day ceremony is at 10:40 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, at the Freedom Shrine behind the St. Charles Police Station at 211 N. Riverside Ave. There will be an invocation, a salute to the flat, a 21-gun salute and the playing of Taps.