Memorial Day service to honor military heroes

On Memorial Day the community will join together to salute the men and women who served in defense of our nation, paying particular note to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Memorial Day is a day set aside to pay tribute to the men and women who gave their lives in defense of freedom. In all, 761 Coal City area residents were called to military service from World War 1 to Vietnam and 24 of them did not return home.
American Legion Post 796 will host the annual Memorial Day ceremony Monday, May 27, at Coal City Intermediate School, 305 E. Division St., site of the community’s veterans memorial. The program begins at 11 a.m. in the school’s historic gymnasium.
During the ceremony special recognition will be given to the community’s war dead and veterans whose names have been added to the veteran’s memorial located on the intermediate school campus.
Featured speakers at this year’s ceremony include Unit 1 Superintendent Dr. Kent Bugg, Diamond Mayor Terry Kernc, Coal City Mayor Terry Halliday and Charles Brown, commander of St. Juvin Post 1336 Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Post 796 commander John Gubbins will oversee the ceremony that will also include remarks and prayers from Rev. David Gilleland, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Coal City.
Memorial wreaths will be placed at the monument, and the color guard of Post 1336 will volley and taps will be presented.
The American Legion encourages all veterans and citizens to participate in the ceremony. Refreshments will follow in the school cafeteria courtesy of Post 796 and Gleaner Life Insurance—Sulphur Springs Arbor.
Services will also be held locally at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, 20953 W. Hoff Road, Elwood, beginning at 11 a.m. on May 27.
Additionally, Mazon American Legion Post 352 will host Memorial Day observances at three local cemeteries beginning at Mazon Cemetery at 10 a.m., Ward Cemetery at 10:30 a.m. and Wheeler Cemetery at 11 a.m. In the event of inclement weather the services will be moved to the Legion Hall in Mazon starting at 11 a.m.
John Martin Steele VFW Post 6049 in Morris will host a parade at 10:30 a.m. from Chapin Park to the Grundy County Courthouse on Washington Street where services will be held at 11 a.m.
The history of Memorial Day dates back to three years after the Civil War ended, May 5, 1868, when the head of an organization of Union veterans—the Grand Army of the Republic—established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers.
Major General John A. Logan of Illinois declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would bloom all over the country. The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery. The ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington Mansion, once the home of General Robert E. Lee.
It was not until after World War I that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then it was placed as the last Monday in May.
To ensure the sacrifices of America’s fallen heroes are never forgotten, in December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into law, the National Moment of Remembrance Act, creating the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance.
The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day for one minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.