‘Thank you is not enough’: 20 honored this year in Vernon Hills’ military banner program
As Memorial Day nears, Vernon Hills' military banner program has increased visibility with the completion of a major road project.
Banners this year have been hung on light standards at Lakeview and Hawthorn parkways and along Lakeview north to the entrance of Century Park north of Route 60, the largest in the Vernon Hills Park District system.
It’s where village fireworks and Vernon Hills Days festival, as well as the park district’s Ribfest and other events are held. The new locations replace Deerpath Drive on the annual Fourth of July parade route for increased visibility.
The 5-foot-by-30-inch banners are created and installed at no cost to veterans or their families. They include veteran or active service persons’ image, name, rank, branch of service and combat deployment, if applicable. They are displayed through Veterans Day in November.
With work on the $6.7 million the Lakeview Parkway project wrapped up the banner locations were moved to the heavily traveled area.
“All who visit our community will know this village honors and recognizes those who have served,” said Jon Petrillo, assistant village manager, introducing the Class of 2024 honorees during the village board meeting this past week.
“While each person has a distinct legacy and unique service history all have two important criteria in common,” Petrillo said. “Each has served or called Vernon Hills home and each has served their country with honor in the U.S. armed forces.”
Twenty veterans or those currently serving are being honored this year representing military actions from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. They include 100-year-old Army veteran Stanley Spillar, who served during World War II, was at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge and participated in the liberation of the Flossenburg concentration camp.
This is the third year of the program run in cooperation with Vernon Hills American Legion Post 1247. The idea was sparked by village Trustee David Oppenheim who saw similar banners during a visit to Poughkeepsie, New York and asked village staff to check into it.
“A lot of towns in the Hudson Valley have that so we brought it here,” he said. “Certainly, the awareness has grown and the appreciation has grown.”
May is Military Appreciation Month and the village board approved a proclamation noting its history of recognition of those who have served in the armed forces including the creation of the Veterans Memorial Arbortheater, Operation Welcome Home for those returning after service in combat and the Vernon Hills Honors Military Banner Program.
“Thank you is not enough,” American Legion Post 1247 Commander Todd Renihan told the board after Petrillo introduced the Class of 2024.