DuPage honors fallen soldiers
When two uniformed military officers showed up to Linda Grieco's work in October of 2008, she knew what followed was not going to be good news. Her son, then 35-year-old Kevin Grieco, had just been killed while deployed in Baghlan, Afghanistan, by a suicide bomber.
Linda said the minutes that followed receiving the news are a blur.
"You go into a period of shock," Linda said. "You go numb and just into a deep period of disbelief."
On that day, Linda says the meaning of Memorial Day changed. As residents throughout the suburbs celebrate the holiday with barbecues, parades and family parties, Linda said she hopes they take a moment to remember the true meaning of the holiday: a memorial to soldiers lost at war.
In a speech at the annual DuPage Memorial Day Observance, a 40-minute ceremony put on Sunday by the DuPage Veterans Memorial Organization at the government center in Wheaton, Grieco said the holiday has become more about great sales at department stores and parades than the men and women who have died fighting for their country.
"The true meaning has been lost to some," she told the crowd of about 100 people, mostly veterans and members of a motorcycle club that frequently ride to honor fallen or returning soldiers. "But it is important that we never forget the true meaning of this day, which is those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice."
For Carol Stream resident Jackie Gulczynski, the service was a way to honor her son Lenny, a Bartlett High School graduate who signed up for the Army at the age of 17.
He died Sept. 17, 2008, in Baghdad, Iraq, after his convoy was involved in a traffic accident. She said the hardest part was telling Lenny's siblings, who considered him their best friend.
"They were best buddies," she said. "It was the hardest thing I have had to do."
A shy volleyball and basketball player, Lenny had wanted to join the military since he was young. Although Jackie wanted Lenny to go to college, he insisted and signed up before graduation.
"He had a million-dollar smile from the time he was little," she said.
Among the speakers at the 40-minute service were West Chicago Mayor Michael Kwasman and DuPage County Board member Dirk Enger, who served as emcee for the event. Enger, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield in the early 1990s, said the Gold Star families have come to grips with their losses but a day like Memorial Day helps them cope and gives them a reason to remember their children.
"They have learned to accept that they lost their sons to the service," Enger said. "But what they cannot accept is if the public forgets about them."
Both Grieco and Gulczynski agreed that their losses have changed their perspective on Memorial Day.
"Every day is Memorial Day for me," Gulczynski said. "But this day is when we see the veterans and soldiers who still remember pay homage to those soldiers. I'd love to go back to when we just had to worry about a barbecue or softball game on this day."