Glendale Heights field of flags honors our fallen troops
Lance Rewerts knelt on a fresh carpet of grass and carefully planted a tiny American flag Wednesday morning along the sidewalk in Veterans Memorial Park in Glendale Heights.
Twelve-year-old Lance was among hundreds of elementary and middle school students who contributed to the sea of flags covering the park's lawn on the corner of Bloomingdale Road and Fullerton Avenue in remembrance of fallen American servicemen and -women.
“It's special because these are people who risked their lives for us to have our freedom and keep our freedom,” said Lance, a sixth-grader at Glenside Middle School.
The annual memorial ritual, incorporated into the social studies curriculum at several schools, was started in 2009 by John Tautkus, a U.S. Army veteran, when his daughter Kelly was a fourth-grader at Reskin School. Tautkus was in the 82nd Airborne Division and served in Grenada and Panama.
Some 6,845 flags will be planted to honor fallen heroes who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, said David Genty, Glendale Heights public affairs coordinator.
The Illinois Fallen Heroes Traveling Memorial Wall, a memorial that pays tribute to all Illinois servicemen and women who have lost their lives in service since Sept. 11, 2001, also is on display in the park.
“This is the second time we've had the traveling wall here,” Tautkus said, adding that the wall also made a stop in 2013.
While students solemnly planted flags, another group studied the photographs of fallen soldiers displayed on the wall.
“I have several students who have lost members of their family — uncles, fathers — in different wars,” said Stacey Broker-Coker, a fourth-grade teacher at Americana Intermediate School who was accompanying 28 of her students to the park. “We're here to have a solemn moment for those people.”
“We've been watching a few videos on Memorial Day to try to increase their awareness of what it all means,” said Gina Gravina, a fifth-grade teacher at Americana.
Mayor Linda Jackson, seated under a tarp, distributed flags to students as they arrived in the park amid unseasonably chilly weather.
“It gives them an idea when you talk about soldiers who have given their lives. You're talking thousands and thousands. That's hard for a child to imagine. It's hard for anyone to imagine,” Jackson said.
Americana fifth-grader Marilyn Baez said the flag-planting activity was meaningful for her and her fellow students because it brought to mind the sacrifices made by servicemen and women.
“We're just honoring them, even with something so small,” she said. “There are family members all over the world that many people have lost and I just keep that in mind.”
The flags will remain on display until Tuesday. On Monday, during the official nationwide observance of Memorial Day, Glendale Heights and Glendale Heights VFW Post 2377 will present a Memorial Day ceremony at 11 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park, 220 Civic Center Plaza. Jackson and a VFW representative will speak and there will be a wreath-laying ceremony and a rifle salute.
For more information, call (630) 260-5303 or visit glendaleheights.org.