Elgin to hold Patriot's Day parade at ECC

Aiming to honor local soldiers and their families, Elgin will hold its first Patriot's Day parade at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at Elgin Community College.

Sponsored by Elgin VFW Post 1307 and the Chapter VI, Elite Forces 173rd Airborne Brigade Association, the parade will see nearly a dozen groups marching in formation.

Elgin Community College Trustee Robert Getz, one of the parade organizers, said the event's focus is twofold. Organizers want to let recently and soon-to-be deployed members of the Illinois National Guard know the community back home stands behind them. And they want to let the soldiers' families know that the community will be here for them during this deployment.

Another reason for the parade, said Getz, a Vietnam veteran, is to raise awareness in the Elgin area about the largest-ever Illinois National Guard deployment to Afghanistan.

"The most important reason we're doing this is for the families," Getz said. "I know what it feels like to be leaving, and my wife knows what it's like to be left behind."

Roughly half of the 33rd Brigade's 2,700 Illinois soldiers have been deployed to Afghanistan, Illinois National Guard spokesman Mike Chrisman said. Members of the 122d Field Artillery Battery from Sycamore will be in attendance at the parade, Chrisman said.

"We will soon be hearing that one or more has been killed in action. As that blue star is replaced by a gold star, we want that family to know we are there to help and that is one specific purpose of this year's parade," he said.

Members of the Great Lakes Navy Band, the American Red Cross, local police forces, the Salvation Army, Civil Air Patrol, 33rd Brigade, and various veterans groups will line up on the field at approximately 8:30 a.m. Elected officials and a hospice unit of World War II veterans will join them.

The parade will begin on the field adjacent to lot 5 at Elgin Community College, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

"I think we can make this something really neat for the whole community and keep it going every year," Getz said.