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Local News

Sun shines on Homewood Memorial Day ceremonies

Before torrential rains tore through the area, the skies were mostly sunny for Homewood’s annual Memorial Day ceremony. The parade stepped at off at 10:30 a.m. from near Village Hall south down Dixie Highway, led by an honor guard. Following that, active soldiers drove and walked by three sand-colored military Humvees.

 

 

Before torrential rains tore through the area, the skies were mostly sunny for Homewood’s annual Memorial Day ceremony.

  The Memorial Day ceremony
  included a rifle salute.
  
(Photos by Carole Sharwarko/
  H-F Chronicle)
 

The parade stepped at off at 10:30 a.m. from near Village Hall south down Dixie Highway, led by an honor guard. Following that, active soldiers drove and walked by three sand-colored military Humvees.

Homewood emergency vehicles and staff followed along, as well. Marching bands from Homewood-Flossmoor High School and James Hart Junior High School played patriotic tunes to round out the parade.

  Parade-goers watch a humvee
  roll down Dixie Highway.
 

Applause and cheers greeted the parade marchers as they rounded Olive Road heading west to the Homewood Veterans Memorial. Boy Scouts walked along the parade route, selling American flags for $5 donations.

  James Hart School student
  musicians played at the
  Veterans Memorial.
 

John Beele, commander of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8077, led the ceremony, which opened with a prayer. James Hart student Aubrey Ooms, of Homewood, read her essay that won this year’s VFW essay contest, “What the American Flag Means to Me.”

“These were people who served our country and lost their lives,” said 13-year-old Aubrey after her speech. “It’s important that people remember that.”

Local veterans and members of Daughters of the American Revolution then set up wreaths, one for each major conflict, to honor soldiers who died.

  Wreaths placed at the Veterans
  Memorial honored members
  of the military lost in major
  military conflicts.

 

The ceremony closed with a five-gun salute and taps played by the H-F Marching Band.

Chris Oh, of Flossmoor, said he and his family attend the ceremony every year. At first it was because his children played in the marching bands. Now, however, they come to pay their respects and spend time with neighbors.

“I think it’s important to honor our fallen warriors,” said Oh, an Army veteran who served in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. “It’s so great the community does this.”

 

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