Northbrook to mark Memorial Day with parade, ceremony

Editor's note: This story has been updated to properly identify Mike Korman as junior vice commander of Northbrook American Legion Post 791.

Northbrook's Memorial Day events kick off Monday with a parade and culminate in a ceremony honoring those who have died serving in the United States Armed Forces.

"It's an event that we all kind of rally around," said Mike Korman, junior vice commander of Northbrook American Legion Post 791, which organizes the parade. "It's really the only event in Northbrook that's just for veterans and first responders."

A 25-year veteran with the Navy Seabees construction battalion, Korman was deployed on four overseas combat tours: Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Bosnia in 2001-02, Kosovo in 2003-04, and Iraq in 2005-06.

The parade will step off at 10:30 a.m. from Center Avenue and Cedar Lane. It'll march north and turn west onto Cherry Lane, and end at Westmoor Elementary School, 2500 Cherry Lane.

It will feature veterans, first responders, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts troops, school bands, including those from Glenbrook North High School and Northbrook Junior High, and other entries.

Following the parade, people can gather for an assembly with the playing of the national anthem, a welcome by American Legion Post 791 Cmdr. Tom Kittler, a retired Air Force general, and other speakers.

Taps will be played at the end of the ceremony "to signify those who have been lost," Korman said.