Arlington Heights veterans breakfast returns with full slate of tributes
Upended by the pandemic last year, Arlington Heights' popular veterans breakfast returned Saturday morning with full capacity and a full slate of tributes to local service members.
It marked the 11th year for the event organized by the Veterans Memorial Committee of Arlington Heights, and hosted for the first time at Luther Village's Wittenberg Commons.
The morning included a patriotic salute by The Arlingtones a cappella chorus, keynote address by Retired Army Maj. Gen. James Mukoyama of Glenview, and display of the traveling Portrait of a Soldier exhibit, which features the hand-drawn images of some 320 Illinois service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries since Sept. 11, 2001.
On each table were handwritten thank you notes to veterans from students at John Hersey High School.
“Those thoughts are coming from the hearts of the young people in Arlington Heights, and I hope all throughout the nation,” said Greg Padovani, chairman of the local veterans committee.
About a third of the 180 who were in attendance Saturday are residents of the retirement community — many of them active in the veterans' roundtable social group that holds monthly meetings and organizes field trips and events.
One of the residents is Art Carlson, who proudly displays three of his model warships in the commons lobby every November for Veterans Day. A carpenter by trade, Carlson helped build bridges as an Army corporal in 1952 during the Korean War, and in later years, worked on the Sears Tower. In his spare time, he used sheet metal and soldering equipment to construct six ships over the course of 12 years at his old home in Des Plaines.
“It's always been a hobby,” Carlson said. “I didn't spend time golfing and all that.”