Red, white and blue filled an auditorium at the College of Lake County’s Grayslake campus on Friday for the college’s ninth annual Memorial Day Ceremony.
About 60 people came to honor fallen soldiers at the event, which is normally held near the college’s Veterans Memorial, but was moved inside this year due to the construction of a new cafe near the memorial.
“I have to applaud all of you for finding your way here under all of our construction,” CLC president Dr. Jerry Weber joked before assuring attendees that construction would be complete by December.
Weber thanked servicemen “with respect and gratitude,” adding that many of them serve in Lake County and study at CLC.
“We all know we owe a debt of gratitude to the servicemen for their sacrifices and their honorable service to their country and its people,” Weber said at a podium surrounded by poppies and placed in front of a hanging American flag.
Col. Mike Peck, superintendent of the Lake County Veterans Assistance Commission, asked World War II veterans to stand, and three elderly men rose to their feet as the audience clapped. He then asked Gold Star family members, individuals who lost family members in the Iraq War, to stand, and eight attendees rose as the audience again clapped in appreciation.
Keynote speaker Paul Hettich applauded CLC for hosting what is presumably the only war memorial on a college campus in Illinois before telling the audience that they were gathered that day because of war and its consequences.
“Memorial Day is about remembrance, accountability and deep, deep gratitude for those who died in service to the country, and their families,” Hettich said.
He then read the name of each conflict or war in U.S. history along with the number of citizens who died before asking the audience to “pause for a moment, pray for those, or reflect for those who died in these conflicts and pray for their families.”
“These are the men and women we honor on Memorial Day,” Hettich said. “They are who Memorial Day is about — not store sales, not picnics, not movies, although we should feel comfortable including those events as lesser priorities for the weekend.”
Ellen Dimock, Gold Star mother of Army Spc. Joey W. Dimock II — a Wildwood resident who died while serving in Afghanistan in 2010 — continued to build on the theme of understanding the true meaning of the holiday that to some means a weekend of barbecues and booze rather than a weekend of remembrance.
“As much as I want to change the way people think about Memorial Day weekend — to stop calling it ‘happy,’ to ban the urge to shop at all the various sales that flash before them, to make it a retailer’s Black Monday — I know that I cannot,” Dimock said. “So I will continue to teach, I will continue to tell my story, I will continue to tell Joey’s story.
Dimock fought back tears as she told the audience that Wednesday, May 25, would’ve been Joey’s 27th birthday. There were no candles, she said, but instead there were tears.
“My son’s name, along with other sons and daughters, is part of this Veterans Memorial at the College of Lake County because of what they did: they died,” Dimock said, voice shaking. “They died in service of their country, our country.”
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To honor others who sacrificed themselves for their country, Joseph R. Bochantin, CLC veteran student services coordinator, recited the named of fallen servicemen with Lake County ties. A chaplain then read a Benedictine before a firing detail composed of U.S. Marines went outside where Jim Reynolds, a Vietnam veteran, played taps. Mary Tallman played the bagpipes inside before Peck offered closing remarks.
Ken Parrish, a Vietnam veteran with 21 years of service in the Marines, said he thought the ceremony was “great.” He and his wife Carol, of Hainesville, have come the last five years.
“It’s nice in here, but it’s even nicer outside. They did a wonderful job,” Parrish said, sporting a red Marines hat embroidered with gold letters reading “retired.”
Angelica LaVito is a freelance reporter for The News-Sun