At one point Monday, a crowd of about 75 people listening to a recording of a choir singing the national anthem started lending their own voices, eventually swelling into a group chorus with everyone in the audience singing along. They were gathered Monday to pay tribute to America’s veterans during a ceremony at La Grange American Legion Post 1941.
The annual Veterans Day commemoration at the Post, 900 S. La Grange Rd., like many throughout the area, took place just after 11 a.m.
“What we now call ‘Veteran’s Day’ began as Armistice Day,” Post Commander Bill Kiddon said before the ceremony. “It is historically significant that this day continues to be observed on the month, day, and hour that the guns fell silent in World War 1 —11 a.m., November 11, 1918.”
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law that changed the name of the holiday that honors men and women who have served the country during both wartime and in peace.
This year’s program lasted about 45 minutes, beginning with the posting of the colors, and an invocation delivered by Chaplain Roy Hodson, who also made a benediction at the ceremony’s closing.
Among those on hand for the ceremony were Countryside Aldermen John Von Drasek and Tom Frohlich, La Grange village Trustee Beth Augustine, and Amy Jo Wittenberg, village president of Indian Head Park.
“Veterans Day is a day to honor all U.S. military veterans,” Kiddon told those assembled. “Veterans come from diverse backgrounds, including different economic, ethnic, and religious groups. But all share a common commitment by taking an oath to defend America, even at the risk of their lives. The military life requires sacrifices that most civilians do not experience.”
Since the Revolutionary War, the total number of Americans killed in all military conflicts is about 1.1 million, with almost half of those perishing in the brutal battles of the Civil War.
Al Krenz, Post 1941 Adjutant and past Commander, sought to frame Monday’s event in both historical and contemporary perspectives.
“November 11, 1918, was a day of celebration throughout the free world,” he said. “A conflict without precedent was ending, an armistice stopping the great war was signed. Advances in the use of artillery, chemical weapons and machine guns led to more than 9 million military deaths and an estimated 8 million civilian deaths during a war that devastated large swaths of Europe, as well as the Middle East, Africa, and the Asian Pacific region.”
Krenz noted that the stated hope of the war, to be the “war to end all wars” turned out to be sadly misplaced.
“Unfortunately, the optimism was short lived,” he said. “A generation later, a second world war followed, which was even deadlier than the first. Even so, the American Legion never wavered on the significance of the date of the 1918 armistice.”
Krenz pointed out the continued importance of military members even amid a growing gap between military and civilian populations.
“In 1980, about 18% of U.S. adults were veterans, but today it’s approximately 5%,” he said. “Active duty service members comprise less than one half of one percent of the U.S. population. Yet when hurricanes Helene and Milton wreaked havoc in the southeastern United States, thousands of active duty, reserve and National Guard service men and women mobilized to provide lifesaving relief and recovery operations. An estimated 43,000 U.S. troops and a dozen warships are deployed in the Middle East.”
In addition to “Star Spangled Banner” as well as “American Soldier” by the late Toby Keith, the hymns of each military service were played, with veterans in the audience standing in recognition of their branch. Most people standing were from the Army, with one lone Navy vet saluted for “Anchors Aweigh.”
Among those on hand for the ceremony was Countryside resident Kathryn Lange, whose association with veterans spans generations.
“My dad was a Marine and he was at Iwo Jima and Guam, and he came back with some problems my mom had to experience with some things about what he went through,” she said. “I actually worked for the Department of Defense and I was in Germany. At the time military men did not have to have a high school diploma, so when I was in Gelnhausen, Germany, I was teaching Army men classes so they could get their GED … that was a nice experience.”
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
