A day to honor DuPage County's veterans
One couldn't travel more than a few feet Wednesday morning at Naperville's Healing Field of Honor without overhearing or seeing veterans being thanked for their service.
Several hundred people attended Wednesday's Veterans Day observance at Rotary Hill at the base of Naperville's Millennium Carillon to honor the men and women who served our country.
But just because our veterans came home doesn't mean they no longer need our love and support, said Medal of Honor recipient Allen J. Lynch of Gurnee.
"Men and women have lost arms, legs, their sight and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder," said Lynch, who earned his medal during a firefight on Dec. 15, 1967, near the My An village in Binh Dinh province of the Republic of Vietnam. "Why? Because this country is worth fighting for and dying for. It's worth defending. We are a free people,"
The ceremony overlooked a field of more than 2,000 American flags, in tight rows, blowing in the slight breeze on the bank of the Riverwalk.
"It's really something to look out there and see all those flags and realize each one represents someone who fought for us," said Naperville resident Christina Drozd, who brought her two young sons to the observance. "The flags will give us a visual and enable us to put a person with a flag when we talk about this at home later. It's a very powerful, moving sight."
Proceeds from the flags that will wave through Thursday at Rotary Hill will benefit the Allen J. Lynch Medal of Honor Foundation. Lynch said the foundation has assisted in ways as large as building an addition on a veteran's home to buying a veteran a bicycle so he could attend treatment for his alcoholism.
"These veterans come home and need some help," Lynch told those in attendance. "We try to help those veterans who have fallen on hard times by giving them a little assistance to get over the hump. That's why we observe Veterans Day."
Elsewhere in the area, veterans were honored with a parade in Aurora, a breakfast in Bensenville and at observances in Glendale Heights and Oakbrook Terrace. They also made appearances at several area schools, including the Jefferson Early Childhood Center in Wheaton.