Busy slate planned for DuPage Veterans Day ceremony

This year's DuPage County Veterans Day observance is one of the larger events staged in recent years.

Terry Owens, president of the DuPage Veterans Memorial, said in addition to the traditional memorial events staged at the annual observance, special recognition will be made for DuPage families who have lost relatives in combat. A plaque honoring recent Medal of Honor recipient Army Staff Sgt. Robert Miller will be unveiled.

The ceremony begins at 2 p.m. Sunday at the veterans memorial site at the county government complex in Wheaton, just south of the courthouse building at 505 N. County Farm Road.

“It's a very ambitious ceremony,” Owens said. “We had tentatively scheduled ceremonies between Memorial Day and Veterans Day, but things kept getting delayed. Everything eventually fell into place that we decided, yes, we will honor and celebrate our gold star families and include the dedication of Sgt. Miller's Medal of Honor plaque all into one ceremony.”

Owens said the idea to honor families who had lost loved ones in combat grew out of ceremonies they've done in the past for mothers of troops killed in service.

“We wanted to do something to honor the entire family structure,” he said.

A marker will be placed at the county's memorial site Sunday marking the dedication.

In addition, a special plaque honoring Miller a Wheaton North High School graduate who was killed in a bold attack on Taliban forces who had surprised a platoon of Afghanistan soldiers Miller was leading in 2008 will also be dedicated. Miller is the fifth DuPage son to earn a Medal of Honor, Owens said.

Owens doubted Miller's immediate family, who now live in Florida, would be able to attend the ceremony.

The master of ceremonies for the event is county board member Dirk Enger, who also serves as a director of the DuPage Veterans Memorial and served in the Marine Corps.