'We must thank them'
By DANA HERRA – dherra@daily-chronicle.com
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| War veterans were honored during the Memorial Day observances Monday in DeKalb. (Randi Stella – rstella@daily-chronicle.com) |
To some people, Memorial Day is just an excuse for a mattress sale or a barbecue, Waterman Elementary School Principal Steve Simpson said Monday. But not for the hundreds who turned out for Memorial Day observances all over the county.
Simpson was one of the speakers at the Memorial Day observance in Waterman, where attendees shivered in a strong wind blowing through Lions Park to honor those fallen in battle. Simpson quoted Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge and the Bible in his remarks.
"Calvin Coolidge said the best way to rid the country of evil is to fill it with good," Simpson said. "Our thoughts and actions are key to our support of Memorial Day. If we want to truly honor our fallen heroes, we must do everything we can do to prevent our liberties from eroding, and it stems from our thoughts and actions toward each other."
In DeKalb, hundreds of people lined Lincoln Highway and First Street to watch the annual Memorial Day parade, and many followed the marchers to Ellwood House for a memorial program afterward. Keynote speaker Don Grady, chief of the Northern Illinois University police department, also told listeners their daily actions are the best way to honor military heroes.
"The only way to honor them is to live a good and honorable life, to show ourselves worthy of their sacrifice," he said.
Grady told his audience about a trip he had made to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, and how he was moved thinking about how few people stop and pay homage to those who died serving their country.
"We have to respect that they have given more than anyone should ever be asked to give," he said. "They gave it freely, gave it willingly, so America could remain the greatest place in the world."
Carol Allen of Waterman said her family, including children and grandchildren, attended the Memorial Day ceremony because they "were just brought up to remember those who died." Allen has a son and a daughter in the military, and her son is deployed to Iraq, she said.
Dan and Eva Rey of DeKalb took their children, Sam, 10, and Audrey, 5, to Ellwood House to teach them why the holiday is observed, Dan Rey said.
"There's a sense of community, too," Eva Rey added.
In his remarks, DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen warned the crowd against becoming too complacent and forgetting to appreciate the liberties Americans have.
"Sometimes we take for granted the freedoms we have and opportunities we have," he said. "May we never forget those men and women who have served so well so we can be here today. We must thank them and appreciate them every day."
Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, was started by Confederate women who would decorate the graves of Civil War rebel soldiers with flowers. The practice quickly spread north, and in 1868, the first national Decoration Day was observed. After World War I, Congress changed the holiday to Memorial Day, a day to honor war dead from all American wars.
