Elgin Memorial Day to mark 30th anniversary of Desert Storm
The Elgin Patriotic Memorial Association, in cooperation with the city of Elgin, invites the community to join in Memorial Day observances on Monday, May 31.
At 9:15 a.m., there will be a service to honor those buried at Lakewood Memorial Park, 30W730 Route 20. The ceremony will be held at the cemetery's Garden of Honor and include a combined color guard. The observance will conclude with a rifle salute and the playing of taps.
It will be followed at 9:45 a.m. by a program at Elgin Veterans Memorial Park, off North Grove Avenue in Elgin. Organized by the Elgin Navy Club and the Elgin Marine Corps League, this program is especially designed to pay tribute to veterans interred at sea. Following a presentation by Elgin Navy Club members, the service will conclude with the strewing of flowers into the Fox River, rifle salute, and the playing of taps. The memorial is located next to the Gail Borden Public Library.
The Catholic ceremony at Mount Hope Cemetery will not be held this year.
At 11 a.m., the Bluff City Cemetery program will pay tribute to the 30th anniversary of Desert Storm. The keynote speaker will be Mark Powell, St. Charles VFW chaplain. This program also will feature the Northwest Baptist Bible Academy and Elgin's Poet Laureate Chasity Gunn.
Local students will continue the long held tradition of reading Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and General John Logan's Orders which established Memorial Day.
The most solemn moment of the morning will be the laying of organizational wreaths at the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial, an observance akin to the laying of wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington D.C. Activities will include a roll call of deceased veterans, a rifle salute, and the playing of taps.
Bluff City Cemetery is located on Elgin's southeast side at 945 Bluff City Blvd. There will be no shuttle bus service this year.
For those who cannot attend in person, this service will be broadcast live on WRMN 1410 AM and WRMN Facebook Live. A video of the program will be available later in the day and posted on the city of Elgin Facebook page.
For further information, including possible weather-related changes, visit www.elginmemorialday.org.
Follow the Elgin Patriotic Memorial Association on Facebook.
New flags needed
The Elgin Patriotic Memorial Association, a nonprofit group which has worked in cooperation with the city of Elgin since 1892 to plan the city's Memorial Day programs, is seeking the donation of flags and financial contributions to buy new flags for the city's Memorial Day program at Bluff City Cemetery.
The association, composed of representatives of more than a dozen civic and veteran organizations, is especially looking for the donation of burial flags measuring 5 feet by 9 feet which have been used to drape the coffins of veterans during funerals. The flags will be used to replace some of the more than 500 flags which line the cemetery streets each Memorial Day during the award-winning "Avenue of Flags."
Financial contributions to the group also would go toward replacing many of the 2,600 smaller veterans flags placed on veterans' graves each Memorial Day. Financial contributions for flags may be sent to the Elgin Patriotic Memorial Association, P.O. Box 6612, Elgin IL 60121.
For information, visit www.elginmemorialday.org or contact President Jerry Turnquist at (847) 431-2472 or ibemrt@aol.com.