Memorial Day parade Saturday

By: 
Staff Report

The Wilmington American Legion Lester J. Smith Post 191 will be hosting the annual Memorial Day weekend parade on Saturday, May 25, to honor those men and women who served in the U.S. armed forces. The parade steps off from Stevens Intermediate School, at the corner of Ryan and Kankakee Street, at 11:30 a.m.
The parade will march south on Kankakee Street to Kahler Road, then north on Williams to end at Veterans Memorial Park, at the corner of Vine and Williams.
The members of VFW Post 5422 will hold a memorial service at the park following the parade. The service will include a rifle salute by the VFW Honor Guard, guest speakers and a reading of deceased VFW and American Legion members.
Hot dogs, pop, chips and cake will be served after the memorial service.
The public is invited to attend all of the Memorial Day activities. Residents or groups who wish to participate in the parade can contact Commander Ken Watt of Post 191 at 815-458-7740 to register an entry.
The community can honor veterans by participating in or supporting two other American Legion activities this week:
• On Friday, May 24, at 11 a.m., the American Legion Lester J. Smith Post 191 will honor deceased military veterans by having a flag line on Baltimore at Water Street.
Anyone who is interested in participating should meet at the parking lot next to Nelly’s to pick up a flag, or a sign that will help the group bring attention to the opioid crisis and veteran suicide rate.
• American Legion Post 191 members will also be passing out poppies and collecting funds to help veterans and the community at the downtown intersection on May 24.
The Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery will observe Memorial Day on Monday, May 27. It will begin with a musical prelude at 11 a.m. The program begins at 11:30. Allen J. Lynch, a Medal of Honor recipient and combat veteran of the Vietnam War, is the keynote speaker.
The Joliet American Legion Band will play patriotic songs. There will be a flyover, the laying of a memorial wreath, readings by Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln re-enactors Max and Donna Daniels and recitations by the students of the Elwood Community School and Coal City Intermediate School.
Visitors are advised to allow extra time to enter the cemetery grounds because of construction outside the entrance on Route 53. Roadside parking is available on the cemetery grounds, and shuttle service will be available.
For additional information about the national cemetery observance, contact cemetery director Quincy McCall at 815-423-9958.