Under a warm sun and blue autumn skies, Wilmette residents on Nov. 11 honored the service and sacrifices of American military veterans during a Veterans Day ceremony in the center of town.
“Every day should be Veterans Day,” Village Trustee Daniel Sullivan told an audience of roughly 50 people at Veterans Park. “They have sacrificed for us. They are sacrificing for us today.”
Sullivan said four words – honor, courage, commitment and valor – stayed with him as he researched the background of the Veterans Day holiday. He said those words describe the way in which veterans have served their country, he said, often paying with their lives to do so.
Sullivan added that he was humbled to be in the presence of so many veterans. Many of them still serve Wilmette as police, firefighters and in other staff positions, he said.
Sullivan spoke during a brief ceremony organized by members of Peter Huerter American Legion Post 46, featuring a rifle volley by the Wilmette Police Department firing squad.
Nick Peters, junior vice commander of Post 46, presided over the ceremony, and said afterward that remembering the role that veterans play in protecting America and American freedoms should never be forgotten.
“It’s very important to remember that there are young veterans, too, who have served recently,” said Peters, who lives in Glenview.
Valerie Marie, now of Plymouth, Mich., and a past president of the Post 46 Auxiliary, offered a prayer on behalf of veterans during the ceremony.
“I don’t think we show enough appreciation of the veterans who serve us,” she said afterward. “We need to honor them.”
Wilmette resident Jenna Pahnke brought her 17-month-old son Lucas to the ceremony, which she attended with her father, past Post 46 commander John Williams, also of Wilmette. She did so not only to support her father, a former Marine, she said, but because of her son.
“I generally think it’s important to remember Veterans Day, but especially with this little guy, I remember that we love freedom and that we feel really fortunate to live in this country. And it’s veterans who have helped make that possible for me and for him, and for everybody,” Pahnke said.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy
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