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Community Corner

Paying Tribute to Local War Dead

Veterans honor their fallen comrades and the true meaning of Memorial Day.

Many Americans take the time on the last Monday of May to pay tribute to the country’s fallen soldiers. We visit the resting places of those lost in combat, we read their names, we fly our flags, we remember.

“It is a day to reflect on the service and sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of Americans who gave their lives in our country’s service,” said Paul Herbert, executive director of the First Division Museum at Cantigny and home to Wheaton American Legion Post 556. “They lost their lives and their futures for us, and we have a responsibility to make our communities and our country places worthy of such great sacrifice.”

This sentiment is obvious to most Americans, but Ken Cramer, commander of American Legion Post 407 in Clarendon Hills, believes it is an opportunity to remember all service members who have died, not just those who fell in combat. 

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“I am very interested in recognizing the men who served in combat areas,” said Cramer. “But I also want to recognize that veterans, no matter where they served, provided a service to this country that is every bit as important as the man on the front lines.”

Cramer served in a non-combat role with the Air Force in Korea and Vietnam. One of three boys, Cramer’s brothers also served, one was wounded in Korea and the other was awarded the Flying Cross as a mechanic fixing airplanes while under fire in Vietnam.

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Rich Greenwald, commander of the Alexander Bradley Burns American Legion Post 80 in Downers Grove, said his members, too, take the time to remember all service members who have died. 

“We get started with the Post Everlasting ceremony,” said Greenwald. “We read the names of all our members who have died in the past year.”

First dubbed Decoration Day, Memorial Day was observed to honor those soldiers who died during the Civil War. While its origins were spontaneous and numerous throughout the country, it was named an official national holiday by U.S. Army Gen. John Logan in 1868. Despite the proclamation, the Southern states refused to recognize the holiday, still marking their own until after World War I. The Memorial Day as we know it was created in 1971, when the official date of the holiday was moved from May 30 to the last Monday of May, in order to make a three-day weekend.

Some communities add elements to their programs to honor local service members killed in combat in Iraq, Afghanistan and in one case, local residents killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Joe Craig, adjutant and former commander of American Legion Post 250 in Hinsdale, said that this year, after the killing of Osama Bin Laden, special tribute will be paid to two Hinsdale residents who lost their lives on Sept. 11. Rev. Jeff Mladenik, a pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, was travelling on one of the planes that careened into the World Trade Center. Robert Rasmussen, a manager at a technology firm, was conducting business inside the towers.

“A lot of people don’t know that two Hinsdale residents died in 2001,” he said.

The Glen Ellyn American Legion is making a similar move to honor the families of recently killed soldiers.

Bob Kent, commander of Glen Ellyn American Legion Post 3, said the post’s ceremony will have a special element this year. “… we will have a Gold Star mother who recently lost a son to fighting in Afghanistan place the ceremonial wreath at the end of the program.”

New names are added to the list of fallen soldiers every year because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they join a fraternity of Americans who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the country in wars from World War I to the present. Greenwald of Post 80 in Downers Grove has in recent years incorporated what he calls the KIA Ceremony. KIA stands for killed in action and the ceremony is designed to honor those soldiers who have lost their lives, as Greenwald puts it, in the war on terror.

“It is part of our ceremony that includes the reading of names from all wars since World War I,” said Greenwald. “It’s something we incorporated a few years ago; we have had three young men killed in the last six years.”

In light of small changes, most ceremony attendees can expect the norm from American Legion Posts and Veterans of Foreign Wars groups during this year’s Memorial Day services, which include an invocation, guest speeches, the reading of names, retiring and raising of the flag, music and, of course, the 21-gun salute. Some American Legion posts still place small flags at the grave sites of local fallen veterans, but others have had to discontinue the mainstay because of a lack of manpower, local legion leadership said. For those posts that do place flags at tombstones, they say there is no need for the public to donate any flags.

Flag Display and Retirement

Anyone who would like to observe Memorial Day by flying an American flag, it is appropriate to fly the flag at half-mast on a large flag pole until noon, according to the American Legion Web site. For those that do not have a flagpole, according to Joe Craig of American Legion Post 250 in Hinsdale, don’t worry; you can fly your flag without breaking protocol.

While not a standing order, Memorial Day also presents the symbolic opportunity to retire old and used flags. If you have a flag that is worn or tattered and ready to be retired you are asked to contact your local American Legion, VFW, or, in some instances, the local Boy Scout troop. These organizations will retire flags according to proper protocol in a burn ceremony.

If you wish to retire a flag at home, the official U.S. Flag Code suggests, “When a flag has served its useful purpose, it should be destroyed, preferably by burning.” The American Legion urges private citizens to do this safely and discreetly. Or, you can turn in your unserviceable flags to your American Legion anytime. The organization conducts unserviceable flag ceremonies annually on Flag Day, June 14.       

 

 

 

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