May 28, Lions Park, Mount Prospect, IL
Members of Mount Prospect’s VFW Post 1337 and American Legion Post 525 have a special Memorial Day remembrance planned this year.
In addition to the annual Lions Park ceremony, they will dedicate a new section of the Lions Park Veteran’s Memorial to 15 Mount Prospect service people who lost their lives while serving in the United States military. The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday, May 28.
Representatives of the Mt. Prospect Park District, the Mount Prospect Historical Society and the Mount Prospect Public Library, worked alongside the veterans this winter and spring to locate the names and stories of Mount Prospect residents who were lost over the years while serving in the military so they could be commemorated with their names added to the Veterans Memorial at Lions Park. The memorial is adjacent to the Veterans Memorial Band Shell in Lions Memorial Park. It has been designed as a tranquil, contemplative setting featuring a fountain and columns for engraved bricks.
To kick off the project, the Mt. Prospect Parks Foundation, the Mount Prospect Lions Club as well as the VFW Post 1337 and American Legion Post 525, have donated to the veterans’ memorial. “We are very grateful to the Parks Foundation and Lions Club for their generous contributions to the memorial,” stated Dutch DeGroot, chairman of the project. “Veterans and their families will have a place to visit and honor their Mount Prospect service members for years to come.”
The search revealed that Mount Prospect lost residents to World War II and the Vietnam War, as well as during peacetime service, but as far as known, none were lost during World War I, Korea, the two Persian Gulf Wars or Afghanistan. There is space remaining on the memorial, however, to include at future ceremonies the names of those who might inadvertently have been missed, according to DeGroot.
Mount Prospect’s residents have long and faithfully served the United States as members of the nation’s military, protecting its shores and interests, a service that inevitably brings with it loss.
That is why the veteran organizations of Mount Prospect this year will permanently memorialize those from Mount Prospect who made the ultimate sacrifice while in service to the United States.
The veterans to be memorialized on May 28 are:
- World War II – Arthur W. Flesch, Robert W. Haake, Herman J. Heide, Phillip Winston Kaiser, Elmer Henry Piepenbrink, Victor William Sander and Frank F. Schott Jr.
- Vietnam War – William Daley, Frank F. Gagliano and David William Skibbe.
- Peacetime – Barry Richard Chumbley, Glen Edward Miller, Michael John Keane and Ronald Dean Odom.
DeGroot asks that if anyone can get in touch with members of any of these veterans’ families who may no longer reside in Mount Prospect, that they please do so and let them know about the upcoming remembrance ceremony and permanent memorial. Those who do not wish to contact the families personally, but have information about their whereabouts, may email DeGroot at service_officer@vfw1337.us.