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Archive for the ‘The Greatest Generation’ Category

Honor veterans at this year’s Wreaths Across America event Dec. 14

Posted in Press Release, Signal Hill NSDAR, The Greatest Generation on November 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Submitted by Jacqueline Marcus

The Barrington-based Signal Hill, National Society Daughters of the America Revolution (NSDAR) chapter invites the community to join at this year’s Wreaths Across America Day event at Evergreen Cemetery on Saturday, Dec. 14. A brief memorial service will begin promptly at noon. After the service, attendees will be directed to place wreaths on the marked graves of veterans interred at the cemetery. This year, the chapter will be honoring more than 830 veterans’ graves at Evergreen Cemetery in Barrington. The event will take place rain, snow or shine.

If you would like to sponsor a $17 wreath for placement at Evergreen, please visit wreathsacrossamerica.org/IL0113. Groups or organizations are welcome to contribute to wreath sponsorship or attend on the day of the event; registration for service organizations or other large groups is available online at the above link.

Signal Hill, NSDAR was chartered in Barrington, in 1972. Over its 50+ years, the chapter has made significant contributions to a variety of 501(c) 3 groups in the area. Members of Signal Hill have proved direct lineage to an American Revolutionary War patriot, be it male or female.

For information about the chapter, visit signalhilldar.com.

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Chicago population hits lowest point since 1920

Posted in Cook, County, Illinois Policy Institute, Nostalgia, Politics, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order, Taxes, The Greatest Generation, Topics Of Interest on August 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

At the 1920 Census, Chicago’s population was 2.7 million, up over 516,000 in a decade. More than 100 years later, Chicago’s population is 2.66 million, a loss of 128,034 from nine straight years of decline.

By Bryce Hill | Illinois Policy Institute

Chicago’s population is lower now than it was in 1920, with steady drops in each of the past nine years.

According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Chicago’s population was 2,664,452 in July 2023. Chicago’s population has not been this low in more than 100 years.

At the 1920 Census, Chicago’s population was counted at 2,701,705, an increase of more than 516,000 since the 1910 Census which pegged the city population at just under 2.2 million. Fast forward more than 100 years and Chicago’s population is at lower levels now than it was then.

While Chicago’s population increased rapidly in the first half of the 20th century, the population peaked in 1950 at just over 3.62 million residents. Since then, the city population has declined: steadily from 1950-1990, then a fluctuating drop since 1990.

Currently, Chicago is on a nine-year losing streak. The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated Chicago’s population has declined each year since 2014, losing 128,034 residents.

From July 2022-July 2023, Chicago lost more than 8,000 residents, the third-largest decline of any city in the nation. If post-pandemic population trends hold, Chicago will soon be overtaken by Houston for the title of America’s third-largest city.

Read more here.

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Remembering D-Day: Key facts and figures about the invasion that changed the course of World War II

Posted in Associated Press, The Greatest Generation on June 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

FILE – American soldiers and supplies arrive on the shore of the French coast of German-occupied Normandy during the Allied D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 in World War II. Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Of those, 73,000 were from the United States, 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle. The Allies faced around 50,000 German forces. (AP Photo, File)

Associated Press

OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — The June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France was unprecedented in scale and audacity, using the largest-ever armada of ships, troops, planes and vehicles to punch a hole in Adolf Hitler’s defenses in western Europe and change the course of World War II.

With veterans and world dignitaries gathering in Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landings, here’s a look at some details about how the operation unfolded.

WHO TOOK PART

FILE – American paratroopers, heavily armed, sit inside a military plane as they soar over the English Channel en route to the Normandy French coast for the Allied D-Day invasion of the German stronghold during World War II, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo, File)

Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Of those, 73,000 were from the United States and 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle.

The Allies faced around 50,000 German forces.

More than 2 million Allied soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics and other people from a dozen countries were involved in the overall Operation Overlord, the battle to wrest western France from Nazi control that started on D-Day.

WHERE AND WHEN

The sea landings started at 6:30 a.m., just after dawn, targeting five code-named beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword. The operation also included actions inland, including overnight parachute landings on strategic German sites and U.S. Army Rangers scaling cliffs to take out German gun positions.

Around 11,000 Allied aircraft, 7,000 ships and boats, and thousands of other vehicles were involved.

MANY DEATHS ON ALL SIDES

A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself, including 2,501 Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded.

In the ensuing Battle of Normandy, 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded. The battle — and especially Allied bombings of French villages and cities — killed around 20,000 French civilians.

The exact German casualties aren’t known, but historians estimate between 4,000 and 9,000 men were killed, wounded or missing during the D-Day invasion alone. About 22,000 German soldiers are among the many buried around Normandy.

SURVIVORS

Inevitably, the number of survivors attending major anniversary commemorations in France continues to dwindle. The youngest survivors are now in their late 90s. It’s unclear how many D-Day veterans are still alive. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says it doesn’t track their numbers.

Source

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Living Memory and 20th Century History

Posted in Politics, The Greatest Generation on June 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Cory Franklin | JohnKassNews.com

The 80th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy invasion approaches, the number of surviving soldiers who were on the beach that day dwindles, and the event is vanishing from living memory. In terms of important historical events, what does the phrase “living memory” mean? How long does it take for a living memory of an event to disappear from society?

Technically, living memory means everyone who was alive when a specific event occurred is now dead, so living memory could be considered 100-plus years. But simply being alive when something happened obviously does not mean remembering it; conscious memory generally goes back only to age five or six and memory for the details and significance of distant events often fades in an individual’s ninth and tenth decades. The stock market crash of 1929 can no longer be considered a part of living memory.

When there are only a few alive who remember an event and those people are very old, a society’s living memory starts to fade around 60 years after the event and generally does not extend to much more than 80 years. A small number might be able to recall events more than 80 years old, but at that point accounts start becoming sporadic and unreliable.

Consider Pearl Harbor, arguably the seminal event in 20th century American history. The 1941 Japanese attack that brought the US into World War II is barely a part of living American memory; the last living survivor of the attack on the USS Arizona died earlier this year.

There are still many in their eighties and older who were born before that date of infamy, but to remember it clearly, you’d have to be at least 90 today and even then, you would have experienced it as a child. With fewer than 1% of the World War II veterans still alive and all of them in their upper nineties or older, the war itself is quickly disappearing from living memory. It will soon seem to us like the Civil War seemed to people in the 1940s.

Every baby boomer who was at least ten years old in 1963 can remember where he or she was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Along with the moon landing in 1969, it was the most noteworthy US historical event of the second half of the 20th century. So, it was worth pointing out that on the 60th anniversary of the assassination last year when a Secret Service agent confessed that he had found a stray bullet in the presidential limousine, it barely raised an eyebrow. For decades after 1963, an admission like that, which might or might not be true, would have sent shock waves  through the country either way. It indicates the JFK assassination, once seared in the public memory, is fading.

Read more here.

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‘Smile a lot, it’s a good day’: Elgin Academy holds final official graduation

Posted in Education, Elgin Academy, Resident Spotlights, The Greatest Generation, Topics Of Interest on June 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The 19 seniors of the Elgin Academy class of 2024 get together for a selfie taken by Tayten Wilder before the school’s 185 and final official graduation Saturday. | Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com

By | Daily Herald

As they wrote a final chapter on the 185-year history of their school, the Elgin Academy community focused on sending off their final senior class on a celebratory note Saturday.

A steady morning rain forced their graduation ceremony from its normal picturesque spot on the quad to inside the gym. While giving the students some last minute instructions on the changes, Assistant Head of School Doug Sept’s final directive was his most important.

“Smile a lot, it’s a good day,” he said.

Naomi Grigsby-Bailey has her tassel flipped by Assistant Head of School Doug Sept during Elgin Academy’s final official graduation Saturday. | Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com

Nineteen seniors received their diplomas Saturday at the school, which will close following a special summer session allowing some juniors to graduate early.

The school’s trustees and leadership announced in November that the 2023-24 school year would be its last. Dwindling enrollment had seen the number of students fall by about 50% in the last 10 years, causing a budget shortfall of $4 million last school year.

Senior Ryan Zonts reflected on what was to come as he and his classmates got ready before the ceremony.

“I’m pretty emotional about it, I know we all are,” Zonts said. “It’s definitely sad but it’s also really joyful, because I know that we’re going to do great things.”

Zonts said the physical campus isn’t what’s important.

Classmates applaud as Ryan Zonts is the final graduate to be called during Saturday’s Elgin Academy graduation. | Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com

“It’s a little bit tough because I know that once I walk out of here, this might be the last time I’ll ever step foot here,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter if there’s a place or not; the community we’ve built, it’s so tight knit that no matter where we are or where we go, we’ll always have someone to fall back on.”

Senior Kate Kihnke later echoed that sentiment during her valedictorian speech.

Valedictorian Kate Kihnke speaks during the Elgin Academy graduation Saturday. | Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com

“Although our Elgin Academy community will no longer be tied to an active school, our beloved hilltop itself, it lives on through each of us,” she said. “The love that radiates among us and this place is immeasurable and will never be forgotten. Let’s not let 185 years of strength and community fade, but instead let it live on through the communities we continue to create around us.”

Graduate Victoria Hill said that in the moment it felt like a normal graduation.

Read more here.

Related: “McLaughlin honors his Alma Mater, Elgin Academy”

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5 things to know about Memorial Day, including its evolution and controversies

Posted in Associated Press, Education, Nostalgia, Politics, Signal Hill NSDAR, The Greatest Generation, Topics Of Interest on May 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The sun shines through the flags in the Memorial Day Flag Garden on Boston Common, May 27, 2023, in Boston. Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members. But it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and retail discounts. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, file)

By BEN FINLEY | Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. — Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers.

But for people such as Manuel Castañeda Jr., the day is very personal. He lost his father, a U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam, in an accident in 1966 in California while his father was training other Marines.

“It isn’t just the specials. It isn’t just the barbecue,” Castañeda told The Associated Press in a discussion about Memorial Day last year.

Castañeda also served in the Marines and Army National Guard, from which he knew men who died in combat. But he tries not to judge others who spend the holiday differently: “How can I expect them to understand the depth of what I feel when they haven’t experienced anything like that?”

1. WHY IS MEMORIAL DAY CELEBRATED?

It’s a day of reflection and remembrance of those who died while serving in the U.S. military, according to the Congressional Research Service. The holiday is observed in part by the National Moment of Remembrance, which encourages all Americans to pause at 3 p.m. for a moment of silence.

Memorial Day-What to Know (© Provided by The Associated Press)

2. WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OR MEMORIAL DAY?

The holiday stems from the American Civil War, which killed more than 600,000 service members — both Union and Confederate — between 1861 and 1865.

There’s little controversy over the first national observance of what was then called Decoration Day. It occurred May 30, 1868, after an organization of Union veterans called for decorating war graves with flowers, which were in bloom.

The practice was already widespread on a local level. Waterloo, New York, began a formal observance on May 5, 1866, and was later proclaimed to be the holiday’s birthplace.

Yet Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, traced its first observance to October 1864, according to the Library of Congress. And women in some Confederate states were decorating graves before the war’s end.

David Blight, a Yale history professor, points to May 1, 1865, when as many as 10,000 people, many of them Black, held a parade, heard speeches and dedicated the graves of Union dead in Charleston, South Carolina.

A total of 267 Union troops had died at a Confederate prison and were buried in a mass grave. After the war, members of Black churches buried them in individual graves.

“What happened in Charleston does have the right to claim to be first, if that matters,” Blight told The Associated Press in 2011.

In 2021, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel cited the story in a Memorial Day speech in Hudson, Ohio. The ceremony’s organizers turned off his microphone because they said it wasn’t relevant to honoring the city’s veterans. The event’s organizers later resigned.

3. HAS MEMORIAL DAY ALWAYS BEEN A SOURCE OF CONTENTION?

Someone has always lamented the holiday’s drift from its original meaning.

As early as 1869, The New York Times wrote that the holiday could become “sacrilegious” and no longer “sacred” if it focuses more on pomp, dinners and oratory.

In 1871, abolitionist Frederick Douglass feared Americans were forgetting the Civil War’s impetus — enslavement — when he gave a Decoration Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery.

“We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation’s destroyers,” Douglass said.

His concerns were well-founded, said Ben Railton, a professor of English and American studies at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts. Even though roughly 180,000 Black men served in the Union Army, the holiday in many communities would essentially become “white Memorial Day,” especially after the rise of the Jim Crow South, Railton told the AP in 2023.

Meanwhile, how the day was spent — at least by the nation’s elected officials — could draw scrutiny for years after the Civil War. In the 1880s, then-President Grover Cleveland was said to have gone fishing — and “people were appalled,” Matthew Dennis, an emeritus history professor at the University of Oregon, told the AP last year.

By 1911, the Indianapolis 500 held its inaugural race on May 30, drawing 85,000 spectators. A report from The Associated Press made no mention of the holiday — or any controversy.

4. HOW HAS MEMORIAL DAY CHANGED?

Dennis said Memorial Day’s potency diminished somewhat with the addition of Armistice Day, which marked World War I’s end on Nov. 11, 1918. Armistice Day became a national holiday by 1938 and was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

An act of Congress changed Memorial Day from every May 30th to the last Monday in May in 1971. Dennis said the creation of the three-day weekend recognized that Memorial Day had long been transformed into a more generic remembrance of the dead, as well as a day of leisure.

In 1972, Time Magazine said the holiday had become “a three-day nationwide hootenanny that seems to have lost much of its original purpose.”

5. WHY IS MEMORIAL DAY TIED TO SALES AND TRAVEL?

Even in the 19th century, grave ceremonies were followed by leisure activities such as picnicking and foot races, Dennis said.

The holiday also evolved alongside baseball and the automobile, the five-day work week and summer vacation, according to the 2002 book “A History of Memorial Day: Unity, Discord and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

In the mid-20th century, a small number of businesses began to open defiantly on the holiday.

Once the holiday moved to Monday, “the traditional barriers against doing business began to crumble,” authors Richard Harmond and Thomas Curran wrote.

These days, Memorial Day sales and traveling are deeply woven into the nation’s muscle memory.

Jason Redman, a retired Navy SEAL who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the AP last year that he honors the friends he’s lost. Thirty names are tattooed on his arm “for every guy that I personally knew that died.”

He wants Americans to remember the fallen — but also to enjoy themselves, knowing lives were sacrificed to forge the holiday.

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2024 Memorial Day services and upcoming events

Posted in Entertainment, The Greatest Generation, Topics Of Interest on May 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Luke Zurawski | Daily Herald

Sunday, May 26

Veterans of Lake Barrington Shores Memorial 5K: 8 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at the Market Place Shopping Center, 5035-5075 Market Place Road, Lake Barrington. The Veterans of Lake Barrington Shores and active-duty service members will conduct a brief ceremony of remembrance prior to the running of the 5K. The racecourse, through the Lake Barrington Shores community, has been certified by U.S. Track and Field and will be professionally chip timed. $45; $25 for active duty, reserve, veteran, police and fire personnel. memorial5k.com.

Monday, May 27

Barrington Memorial Day Parade & Ceremony: 10:30 a.m. to noon Monday, May 27. The parade begins at Veterans Memorial on Park Avenue, proceeds west on Main Street, left on Dundee Avenue, and right into Evergreen Cemetery. The service at Evergreen Cemetery will begin following the parade. Free. barrington-il.gov.

Veterans of Lake Barrington Shores Memorial Day Ceremony: 11 a.m. Monday, May 27, at Veterans Memorial Garden, Lake Barrington Shores, Route 59 and Miller Road, Lake Barrington. The Veterans of LBS invite active-duty military, veterans and veteran families to its Memorial Day ceremony. A complimentary hot dog lunch with chips and a beverage will be served. RSVP to Jim Thompson at governorjim4@gmail.com or (847) 638-1638. veteransoflbs.com.

Hoffman Estates-Schaumburg Memorial Day Observance: 10 a.m. Monday, May 27. The Memorial Day Observance begins at 10 a.m. at the Hoffman Estates Veterans Memorial Site outside the Hoffman Estates Police Department, 411 W. Higgins Road. The observance continues at 10:45 a.m. at the St. Peter Lutheran Church Cemetery, 202 E. Schaumburg Road, Schaumburg. Held rain or shine. Following the observance, hot dogs and refreshments will be served at the Picnic Grove at St. Peter Church, weather permitting. Bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating. Free. hoffmanestates.org.

Wauconda Memorial Day Parade: 9 a.m. to noon Monday, May 27, at 101 N. Main St., Wauconda. Presented by Wauconda American Legion Post 911. Free. wauconda-il.gov.

Arlington Heights Memorial Day Parade: 9:30 a.m. Monday, May 27. The 105th annual Memorial Day Parade begins at Arlington Heights Road and Sigwalt Street, heads west to Sigwalt, turns north on Dunton, turns west on Euclid, and south on Chestnut. Ends at Memorial Park with an 11 a.m. ceremony. Annual event is organized by the American Legion and Veterans Memorial Committee of Arlington Heights. Free. vah.com.

Color guard members from the American Legion Post 964, VFW 11020 and the Marine Corps League 1395 participate in a previous Memorial Day parade in Lake Zurich. This year’s parade steps off at 10 a.m. Monday, May 27.| Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com

Lake Zurich Memorial Day Parade: 10 a.m. Monday, May 27, on Main Street, Lake Zurich. Starts at the American Legion Post, winds west on Main Street, turns south on Old Rand Road, and finishes at the Veterans Memorial in front of the Lake Zurich Police Department. Free. lakezurich.org.

Palatine American Legion Post 690 Memorial Day Services and Parade: Beginning at 10 a.m. Monday, May 27, with a service at Hillside Cemetery on Smith Street in Palatine. The parade will start at 10:15 a.m. at Cornell Avenue and Smith Street. The route will head north on Smith Street, east on Robertson Street, south on Brockway Street and then east on Wood Street to the Veterans Memorial in Community Park. Following the parade at 11 a.m., there will be a short program at the Veterans Memorial and then another ceremony at the Legion Memorial in Towne Square, 150 W. Palatine Road, beginning at 12:15 p.m. Community members are invited to the American Legion across the street from Towne Square following the ceremonies. (847) 359-1606 or alpost690.us.

Cary Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony: 10:15 a.m. Monday, May 27, on First Street and Veteran’s Park in Cary. CaryIllinois.com.

Arlington Heights Memorial Day Ceremony: 11 a.m. Monday, May 27, at Memorial Park, North Chestnut Avenue and West Fremont Street, Arlington Heights. The ceremony honors and remembers all those who have given their lives — especially Arlington’s Fallen Heroes — the 59 men from Arlington Heights who died in service from the Civil War through Afghanistan. At this ceremony, a list of names of veterans who have passed away in the preceding 12 months will be read. Free. vah.com/explore/memorial_day_parade.php.

Crystal Lake Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony: 11 a.m. Monday, May 27. Parade starts at Central High School and runs east on Franklin Avenue, north on Williams Street, and west on Woodstock Street to Union Cemetery for a memorial service. Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Chris Borchert will be the speaker. crystallake.org.

Elgin Memorial Day service: 11 a.m. Monday, May 27, at Bluff City Cemetery, 945 Bluff City Blvd., Elgin. Catholic Mass along with a combined color guard, rifle salute and the playing of taps at 8:30 a.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery, 1001 Villa St. Ceremony with combined color guard, a rifle salute and the playing of taps at 9 a.m. at Lakewood Memorial Park, 30W730 Route 20. At 9:40 a.m., Elgin Navy Club and the Elgin Marine Corps League program, which pays tribute to veterans interred at sea, will drop flowers into the Fox River, conduct a rifle salute and play taps at Elgin Veterans Memorial Park, 270 N. Grove Ave. At 11 a.m., a ceremony will pay tribute to the 80th anniversary of D-Day with keynote speaker Jill Smith of Elgin American Legion Post 57. Also features the Elgin Master Chorale and the Northwest Baptist Academy Band. Students with the Fox Valley Young Marines will read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and General John Logan’s Orders, which established Memorial Day. A free shuttle bus will pick up riders at the main gate and east gate before and after. Co-sponsored by the Elgin Patriotic Memorial Association and the city of Elgin. Free. elginmemorialday.org.

Tuesday, May 28

Crystal Lake Concerts in the Park: 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 28, at Main Beach, 300 Lakeshore Drive, Crystal Lake. Beatles tribute band Kaleidoscope Eyes performs. Free. For parking locations, see crystallakeparks.org/special-events.

Wednesday, May 29

South Elgin Summer Concert Series: 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, May 29, at Panton Mill Park, 10 N. Water St., South Elgin. Modern Day Romeos will perform. Free. southelgin.com.

Thursday, May 30

South Elgin Senior Concert Series: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, May 30, at Panton Mill Park, 10 N. Water St., South Elgin. Gina Martini Band will perform. Free. southelgin.com.

Plaza Concert Series: 6:30-9:30 p.m. Thursday, May 30, at Wheeling Town Center, 351 W. Dundee Road, Wheeling. West End performs. Food and drinks for purchase. Free. thewheelingtowncenter.com/events.

Rockin’ in the Park Summer Concert Series: 7-10 p.m. Thursday, May 30, at Parkway Bank Park, 5501 Park Place, Rosemont. Music by Radio Gaga on Thursday, along with food and beverage tents on the park’s great lawn. Musical fireworks display after the show. Free. rosemont.com/thepark/calendar.

Click here for more.

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Memorial Day parades, services, fundraisers in the suburbs

Posted in Fundraisers, Resident Spotlights, The Greatest Generation on May 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Luke Zurawski | Daily Herald

Memorial Day parades, services and observances throughout the suburbs will pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Wednesday, May 22

The Wall That Heals Motorcycle Run: Wednesday, May 22. The Wall That Heals, a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial along with a mobile Education Center, is coming to Randall Oaks Park in West Dundee. Join the motorcycle escort on May 22, which will start at Woodstock’s Harley-Davidson and ride through Huntley, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, Carpentersville and East/West Dundee. Be prepared for a nonstop ride. Registration is at noon, with jiffy stands up at 3:30 p.m. It’s $40 per bike. All proceeds will go to first responder charities. Register at truepatriotscare.com/wall-that-heals-motorcycle-run/.

Friday, May 24

The Wall That Heals came to Elgin in 2013. This weekend, the three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial will be in Randall Oaks Park in West Dundee. | Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com, 2013

The Wall That Heals exhibit: Friday, May 24, through Monday May 27, at Randall Oaks Park, 1180 N. Randall Road, West Dundee. Three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial along with a mobile Education Center will be open 24 hours a day, May 24-27. The exhibit honors those who served in the Vietnam War and bears the names of the 58,281 men and women who died during the war. Sponsored by True Patriots Care and Carpentersville/Dundee American Legion Post 679. wallthathealsdundee.com.

Sunday, May 26

Veterans of Lake Barrington Shores Memorial 5K: 8 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at the Market Place Shopping Center, 5035-5075 Market Place Road, Lake Barrington. The Veterans of Lake Barrington Shores and active-duty service members will conduct a brief ceremony of remembrance prior to the running of the 5K. The racecourse, through the Lake Barrington Shores community, has been certified by U.S. Track and Field and will be professionally chip timed. $45; $25 for active duty, reserve, veteran, police and fire personnel. memorial5k.com.

Monday, May 27

Village of Barrington Facebook post

Barrington Memorial Day Parade & Ceremony: 10:30 a.m. to noon Monday, May 27. The parade begins at Veterans Memorial on Park Avenue, proceeds west on Main Street, left on Dundee Avenue, and right into Evergreen Cemetery. The service at Evergreen Cemetery will begin following the parade. Free. barrington-il.gov.

Hoffman Estates-Schaumburg Memorial Day Observance: 10 a.m. Monday, May 27. The Memorial Day Observance begins at 10 a.m. at the Hoffman Estates Veterans Memorial Site outside the Hoffman Estates Police Department, 411 W. Higgins Road. The observance continues at 10:45 a.m. at the St. Peter Lutheran Church Cemetery, 202 E. Schaumburg Road, Schaumburg. Held rain or shine. Following the observance, weather permitting, hot dogs and refreshments will be served at the Picnic Grove at St. Peter Church. Bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating. Free. hoffmanestates.org.

Palatine American Legion Post 690 Memorial Day Services and Parade: Beginning at 10 a.m. Monday, May 27, with a service at Hillside Cemetery on Smith Street in Palatine. The parade will start at 10:15 a.m. at Cornell Avenue and Smith Street. The route will head north on Smith Street, east on Robertson Street, south on Brockway Street and then east on Wood Street to the Veterans Memorial in Community Park. Following the parade at 11 a.m., there will be a short program at the Veterans Memorial and then another ceremony at the Legion Memorial in Towne Square, 150 W. Palatine Road, beginning at 12:15 p.m. Community members are invited to the American Legion across the street from Towne Square following the ceremonies. (847) 359-1606 or alpost690.us.

Cary Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony: 10:15 a.m. Monday, May 27, on First Street and Veteran’s Park in Cary. CaryIllinois.com.

Crystal Lake Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony: 11 a.m. Monday, May 27. Parade starts at Central High School and runs east on Franklin Avenue, north on Williams Street, and west on Woodstock Street to Union Cemetery for a memorial service. Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Chris Borchert will be the speaker. crystallake.org.

Renae Rinne of Elgin listens as the roll call of the deceased from local veteran organizations is read during Elgin’s 2023 Memorial Day observance. | Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com, 2023

Elgin Memorial Day service: 11 a.m. Monday, May 27, at Bluff City Cemetery, 945 Bluff City Blvd., Elgin. Catholic Mass along with a combined color guard, rifle salute and the playing of taps at 8:30 a.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery, 1001 Villa St. Ceremony with combined color guard, a rifle salute and the playing of taps at 9 a.m. at Lakewood Memorial Park, 30W730 Route 20. At 9:40 a.m., Elgin Navy Club and the Elgin Marine Corps League program, which pays tribute to veterans interred at sea, will drop flowers into the Fox River, conduct a rifle salute, and play taps at Elgin Veterans Memorial Park, 270 N. Grove Ave. At 11 a.m., a ceremony will pay tribute to the 80th anniversary of D-Day with keynote speaker Jill Smith of Elgin American Legion Post 57. Also features the Elgin Master Chorale and the Northwest Baptist Academy Band. Students with the Fox Valley Young Marines will read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and General John Logan’s Orders, which established Memorial Day. A free shuttle bus will pick up riders at the main gate and east gate before and after. Co-sponsored by the Elgin Patriotic Memorial Association and the city of Elgin. Free. elginmemorialday.org.

Lake Zurich Memorial Day Parade: 11 a.m. Monday, May 27, on Main Street, Lake Zurich. lakezurich.org.

Veteran of Lake Barrington Shores Memorial Day Ceremony: 1 p.m. Monday, May 27, at Veterans Memorial Garden, Lake Barrington Shores, Rout 59 and Miller Road, Lake Barrington. The Veterans of LBS invite active-duty military, veterans and veteran families to its Memorial Day ceremony. A complimentary hot dog lunch with chips and a beverage will be served. RSVP to Jim Thompson at governorjim4@gmail.com or (847) 638-1638. veteransoflbs.com.

Find more here.

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Looking for a memorable gift for Mother’s or Father’s Day?

Posted in The Greatest Generation, Topics Of Interest on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“Step into the pages of aviation history and embark on an exhilarating journey aboard EAA’s legendary B-25 Berlin Express. This iconic aircraft stands as a testament to wartime bravery and innovation, carrying with it the legacy of daring missions and heroic endeavors.

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Each flight offers eight seats, allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, and filled sequentially based on availability. Your designated flight time will be provided upon adding the product to your cart. Please ensure onsite check-in at least one hour before your scheduled flight. A minimum of five passengers is required per flight. In the event of fewer than five bookings, we’ll make every effort to reschedule the flight for the same day or another day during the tour. If rescheduling isn’t feasible, the flight may be canceled without incurring any cancellation charges. For inquiries, please reach out to our Membership Services Representative at 1-800-359-6217.”

  • May 16 – May 19, 2024 | Peru, IL
  • June 21 – June 23, 2024 | Rockford, IL
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Column: Why I’m boycotting the Kentucky Derby — and why Chicago sports fans should too

Posted in Chicago Tribune, Deception, Ethics, Guest Essay, OP/Ed, Politics, The Greatest Generation, Topics Of Interest on May 2, 2024| 3 Comments »

Demolition crews hired by the Bears begin knocking down the grandstand at the former Arlington International Racecourse on June 16, 2023, in Arlington Heights. | Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune

By Neil Milbert | Chicago Tribune

During my years as a Tribune sports writer, I covered the Kentucky Derby 33 times and considered it to be one of the most interesting and rewarding experiences of my long career.

Before I joined the Tribune in 1968 and after my full-time employment ended in 2008, I watched the Derby on TV every year, even though I’ve never been a horseplayer and racing isn’t my favorite sport. Watching the post parade to the strains of “My Old Kentucky Home” on the first Saturday in May was a rite of spring.

But starting last year, I vowed never to watch another Kentucky Derby, either in person or on TV.

My boycott comes in response to the vital role the management team at Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) played in the Bears’ 2023 destruction of the world-renowned and tradition-rich Arlington International Racecourse, one of the precious gems of Chicago sports.

The rubble that remains is a monument to the greed of the people who run CDI and their disregard for the owners and trainers who raced their horses there and the fans and families who made trips to Arlington part of their summer sports and recreation menus.

CDI has tried to hide its motive in forcing the Bears to wipe Arlington off the map, but the obvious reason was to eradicate gambling competition for Rivers Casino, in which CDI holds a 62% interest and which is located in Des Plaines, only 12 miles from the site of the former track in Arlington Heights.

Then known as Arlington Park, the racetrack was built in 1927 and acquired by the late Dick Duchossois and three partners in 1983. In the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the clubhouse and grandstand in 1985, Duchossois bought out his partners in February 1986 and rebuilt Arlington in 1988. After Arlington reopened in 1989, Architectural Digest acclaimed it as “the world’s most beautiful racetrack.”

European horse owners and media who came for the Arlington Million and their counterparts in the U.S. joined in the chorus of praise.

New York sports writer Jenny Kellner told the whimsical tale of a horseplayer who’d gone to heaven and was taken on a tour by St. Peter, who asked, “Well, how do you like the place?”

“Oh, it’s nice,” the horseplayer answered. “But it sure ain’t Arlington.”

Duchossois shut down his palatial track in 1998-99 in a successful attempt to win substantial real estate tax concessions. He reopened in 2000, and that June he merged Arlington and CDI.

The merger made Duchossois Industries by far the biggest shareholder (25%) in the parent company. A string was attached that the share would increase to 31.8% if the litigation-snarled Rosemont casino opened within a few years and — as mandated by the legislature — funneled a portion of its adjusted gross revenue to the state’s racetracks, with Arlington receiving the biggest subsidy. Duchossois Industries also was awarded three seats on the CDI board of directors.

Duchossois predicted that joining with “the best-known brand in horse racing would greatly benefit Illinois racing.”

Instead, the merger ultimately produced irreparable damage to Illinois racing.

For nearly two decades CDI/Arlington joined with the other tracks and thoroughbred and harness horsemen’s organizations to lobby the state legislature for permission to conduct slot machine and table gaming at the track, converting it into a “racino.”

Similar to the Rosemont formula that never came to fruition, a 3% adjusted gross revenue deduction would be allocated for purses. This would significantly upgrade the quality of racing and make the product more attractive to sophisticated bettors in Illinois and in the simulcast marketplace, where races from all over the country are shown at out-of-state tracks and off-track betting locations. Similar racing formulas have proven to be very successful in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Starting in 2015 the Duchossois family began significantly reducing its holdings in CDI. In 2017 the sale of more stock and the departure of the family’s representatives on the board left the track entirely in the hands of corporate managers headed by CEO Bill Carstanjen.

An obvious proponent of Milton Friedman’s economic philosophy that the sole purpose of a corporation is to increase its profits, Carstanjen shifted CDI’s traditional emphasis on racing to a focus on casino gambling, and in 2018 Arlington’s parent company acquired its 62% interest in Rivers Casino.

The long push for casinos at Illinois racetracks finally succeeded in the spring of 2019, when the legislature passed and Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a massive gaming expansion bill.

But then CDI did a sudden and shocking about-face, announcing that Arlington wouldn’t become a racino. Carstanjen said the subsidy for racing purses made it “financially untenable.” He went on to say: “The long-term solution is not Arlington Park. That land will have a higher and better purpose for something else.”

When interrogated by Illinois Racing Board members concerning the financial windfall that closing Arlington would have on Rivers Casino’s revenue, a CDI representative said he wasn’t privy to any discussions to that effect.

The 360-acre property was put up for sale in 2021, and racing was discontinued after that year’s April 30-Sept. 25 meeting.

The Bears bought Arlington for $197 million in 2023 after CDI spurned at least three offers from groups that sought to perpetuate racing. This wasn’t the first time the Bears contemplated moving to the racetrack property. In 1975 they announced plans to build an 80,000-capacity stadium that would open in 1977 northwest of the old Arlington and would coexist with the racetrack, but the deal with former track owner Gulf & Western fell through.

The consensus is that in addition to prohibiting gambling on the property, the new deal with the Bears included a tacit agreement not to conduct betting on races. Instead the football team planned a $5 billion development with an enclosed stadium, housing and entertainment.

But now the Bears have shifted their focus to building a replacement for Soldier Field on the Chicago lakefront. To reduce the enormous increase in real estate taxes that resulted from the cessation of racing at Arlington after the 2021 meeting, in May 2023 they began the since-completed demolition of the luxurious and historic track. (The team’s late chairman, Ed McCaskey, must have been rolling over in his grave because after Arlington reopened in 1989, he was a summertime fixture in a box seat in front of the press box.)

The destruction of Arlington gave CDI a “demolition derby double” — combining it with the 2015 destruction of another track in its gambling empire, Calder Race Course in suburban Miami.

CDI purchased Calder in 1999, and casino gambling came to the track in 2010 with the stipulation there be 40 days of racing. In 2014 the track was leased to the owner of Gulfstream Park. Even though CDI tore down the grandstand and clubhouse after the 2015 meeting, racing continued under the auspices of Gulfstream until the lease expired in 2020.

Jockey Miguel Mena rides Harmac, left, after they won the Bruce D. Memorial Stakes race during Arlington Million day on Aug. 12, 2017, at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights. | Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune

To perpetuate casino gambling, CDI persuaded regulators to substitute parimutuel betting at the jai alai fronton it had built on the premises for the rule that stipulated 40 days of betting on horses.

While the cessation of racing at Calder had an adverse effect on the thoroughbred sport in Florida, the damage pales in comparison with that inflicted on both thoroughbred and harness racing in Illinois by the absence of Arlington.

It has left the dual-purpose Hawthorne Race Course as the only track in the Chicago metropolitan area. Since 2022 the thoroughbreds and harness horses have had to time-share, dividing the racing calendar. This year thoroughbred racing began on March 23 and will run through Oct. 13. The harness horses concluded a meeting that began Sept. 9 on Feb. 12, and they’re scheduled to return for an Oct. 19-Dec. 30 meeting.

Trying to undermine Hawthorne was a constant when CDI controlled Arlington. In 2012 its racetrack subsidiary Churchill Downs instituted a qualifying race system to determine the field for the Kentucky Derby. Conspicuous by its absence from the list was the most prestigious dirt race in Illinois, the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne. Making the omission more glaring was that 2002 Illinois Derby winner War Emblem went on to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Included on the long list of current qualifiers are such dubious domestic preps as the Sunland Park Derby in a New Mexico city with a population of 18,032. There also are more than a few far-flung overseas qualifiers such as the UAE Derby in Dubai, the Fukuryu Stakes in Japan and the Cardinal Stakes in Great Britain. There has been only a trickle of qualifiers from overseas, and none has come close to finishing in the top three.

In stark contrast to CDI, NASCAR is trying to get a foothold in Chicago and Formula One is exploring the possibility of holding a race here. The women’s professional franchises, basketball’s Sky and soccer’s Red Stars, also are committed to becoming fixtures on the Chicago sports scene.

But CDI has turned away from the nation’s third-biggest sports market by excluding the Illinois Derby from the Kentucky Derby qualifier list and then committing a far more egregious offense by destroying Arlington.

In writing Arlington’s obituary, it must be emphasized that this beautiful track had one of the richest traditions in the racing world.

Jerry Bailey rides Cigar across the finish line July 13, 1996, in Arlington Heights to win the Arlington Citation Challenge. | AP Photo/Jane Gibson

The great Secretariat made his first start after becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years when he came for an invitational race in 1973. In another invitational in 1996, Cigar equaled Citation’s modern-day record by winning his 16th consecutive race. Citation, the 1948 Triple Crown winner, made Arlington his summer home.

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