Arlington Hts. Memorial Park gets new program

From Jacob Sigwalt and Walter J. Kennicott, who died during the Civil War, to James Bray Stack, killed in November in Afghanistan, 56 Arlington Heights residents have died in America’s wars.

Each will be honored in a special area of Veterans Memorial Park, Fremont Street and Chestnut Avenue.

A brick engraved with the veteran’s name will be placed in the park, and every name will be read during a Memorial Day ceremony while church bells toll in the village, Greg Padovani, chairman of the Drive to Revive Memorial Park, told the village board Monday.

The committee is calling this project Arlington’s Fallen Heroes.

Funds have also been donated so that 56 wreaths, each bearing the name of one of these veterans, will decorate the park on Memorial Day.

To be honored in this fashion the veteran had to have lived in Arlington Heights at some point in his life and died as a result of active duty during one of the 15 U.S. conflicts.

The Arlington Park Foundation will pay for these bricks. The committee operates a separate program where family or friends can honor any veteran living or deceased by donating $100 for a brick in the park. Others can be honored with bricks at higher donation amounts. The funds are for projects in the park, including a planned bronze sculpture.

All 56 names, their ranks and when and where they died are online. This can be reached by clicking on Arlington’s Fallen Heroes at ahpd.org. Anyone who thinks there should be additions or corrections to this list can e-mail Padovani at arlingtonheightsveterans@gmail.com or call (847) 392-9113. The committee is also seeking information on family members so they can be invited to the Memorial Day ceremony.

World War II saw 36 Arlington Heights residents die, which Padovani said was a huge number for a town of 4,000. The Vietnam War was second with eight deaths.