‘The purpose of Memorial Day’: Communities gather to remember fallen heroes
People lined suburban streets and gathered in parks and cemeteries Monday for solemn remembrances of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Memorial Day was marked by dozens of parades, ceremonies and other services attended by members of the military, veterans and civic groups, scouts, high school bands, politicians, clergy and others.
Some waved flags, or stood when flags hoisted by a color guard marched by. Others shed tears as names of local fallen heroes were read aloud.
In Arlington Heights, Mikayla Stack read the name of her father, James Bray Stack, who is the most recent of 68 servicemen from the Northwest suburb to have died while in service.
Mikayla was only 1-year-old when her father, a Marine lance corporal, was killed in action on Nov. 10, 2010, in Sangin, Afghanistan.
The annual recitation of names of the fallen at Arlington Heights’ Memorial Park was preceded by remarks from Gold Star wife Katie Stack, who read her guest column published in Monday’s Daily Herald.
“On Memorial Day, my one request is this: When you view the names and faces of these fallen men and women at Memorial Park or at a memorial near you, I challenge you to approach with a heart of recognition and gratitude and say, ‘Thank you,’” she said. “Remember why you get to live in this great and free nation and the great price of that freedom. When gathering with your friends and family, I want you to enjoy your picnic or barbecue, but take the time to teach your children and others about the true meaning behind this day and to remember our fallen heroes and their families.”
Among the first names read Monday morning — for the first time at an Arlington Heights Memorial Day ceremony — were nine Union Army soldiers recently discovered in a research project by local history buff Brian Maloney.
Greg Padovani, chairman of the Veterans Memorial Committee of Arlington Heights, asked Maloney if he wanted to be on stage with the speakers and other dignitaries Monday. The modest 26-year-old amateur historian preferred to watch the ceremony from the back of the park with his family instead.
“Brian did an enormous amount of work to find these extra nine who have been forgotten for over 160 years,” Padovani told the crowd of hundreds gathered. “Thank you, Brian. You’ve done a great job of service to your community. Today we want to bring these nine back to our community’s memory — because they have been indeed forgotten for over 160 years — and that is the purpose of Memorial Day.”
The village’s 106th annual Memorial Day remembrance started Monday morning with a parade — often regarded as one of the largest in Illinois — that included 70 marching units of more than 2,000 people, Padovani said.
Elsewhere Monday, hundreds of people walked up the Avenue of Flags to the Grand Army of the Republic section of Bluff City Cemetery for Elgin’s annual Memorial Day program. The event has been held there since 1920.
Students with the Fox Valley Young Marines read Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and General John Logan’s General Order No. 11 that established Memorial Day. Speakers also paid tribute to the 75th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.
In Lake County, there was no Lake Zurich parade this year because of ongoing road construction in the downtown, but still about 200 people attended a remembrance ceremony at the Veterans Memorial near the police station and Ela Area Public Library. The Lake Zurich High School marching band provided music at the ceremony organized by American Legion Post 964 and the Marine Corps League.
And the Archdiocese of Chicago celebrated field Masses at its 21 Catholic Cemeteries throughout Cook and Lake counties. That included St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery in Palatine, where Cardinal Blase Cupich led the outdoor liturgy.
Daily Herald photojournalists Paul Valade and Rick West contributed to this report.