Dundee's Memorial Day services follow tradition, honor veterans

In the 50 years or so Dundee Township has been hosting Memorial Day events, there have not been many changes.

As in past years, they will begin with a parade, which will be held Sunday, May 24. It will begin at 2 p.m. at the corner of Van Buren Street and Route 72 in East Dundee. The 40-plus units will walk west to West Dundee's Cal Grafelman Park.

New this year in the parade will be more business owners and their employees who have opened shops and restaurants in East and West Dundee. They will march to the park with marching bands from Dundee-Crown High School and Carpentersville Middle School, local elected leaders, firefighters, police officers and members of area churches.

There, songs will be played and speeches will be made to honor soldiers living and dead.

The reason not much new can be said about the parade or the 21-gun salute that will take place at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 25, at the Route 72 bridge over the Fox River is because of the tradition Dundee Township residents have built around the summer's first national holiday, said parade coordinator Bobbie Andresen.

From there, local veterans will participate in ceremonies in area cemeteries.

Dundee's events, which are sponsored be the Tri-Cities Evergreen VFW Post in West Dundee, have been held for about 50 years. They have endured the lifetimes of all of the World War I area veterans and nearly all of the World War II veterans.

"Now there's only one World War II veteran left in the area," Andresen said. "We lost a great deal this past year. This year is the 70th anniversary of the ending of World War II. The Memorial Day activities allow us to honor him and other veterans who served in Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world."

A day before the parade, on Saturday, May 23, fallen soldiers will be honored when VFW members and local Boy Scouts continue the tradition of placing American Flags on the a growing number of graves of veterans buried in Dundee Township's two cemeteries along Route 31 and Route 25.

The news here is about 60 more flags will be needed this year to mark the graves of veterans who have died since last Memorial Day, said Diane Ahrens, a VFW member.

"These events have been going on for a long time, so people know what to expect," Andresen said. "We've always had a good turnout as far as units and people who watch them march down Main Street."

Tradition doesn't have to be new to be important, she said. It just has to withstand the years.