• Editor’s Note: Kane County is the home to 24,787 veterans, the seventh-largest county by veteran population in the state of Illinois. “Ask Jake” is a monthly series of articles written by Kane County Veterans Assistance Commission Superintendent Jacob A. Zimmerman, designed to help Kane County veterans and their families, in appreciation of their service and sacrifice.

Memorial Day 2016 is fast approaching with many ceremonies scheduled throughout Kane County. This year, Memorial Day falls on Monday, May 30.

The following is a list of ceremonies and events throughout Kane County.

Kane County

Kane County Memorial Day Ceremony, Geneva — This event takes place at 1 p.m. Monday, May 30, at the Kane County Government Center. The ceremony is held only on years in which names were added to the Kane County Veterans Memorial.

This year, two names were added:

• Sara Medina of Aurora, a U.S. Marine Corps corporal, who died in a helicopter accident while supporting a humanitarian mission in Nepal on May 12, 2015.
• Rory Reyna of Aurora, a U.S. Coast Guard petty officer, who died while on duty at Coast Guard Station Grand Haven on July 17, 2015.

Kane County Communities

• Editor’s Note: The original article said the East Dundee parade would be on May 30. It has been updated to the correct date: Sunday, May 29, 2016.
  

ALGONQUIN – Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony: Monday, May 30, 2016. The parade begins at 10 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial at Algonquin Cemetery on IL Route 31. The parade progresses south on Main Street, then east on Algonquin Road, then north on Harrison Street, and ends at the River Front Park where a Memorial Day Ceremony will be held.

AURORA — Aurora Memorial Day Parade: The parade begins at noon Monday, May 30, 2016, at Benton and River streets and progresses east on Benton Street and then north on Broadway, and then west on Downer Place and ending at River Street.

Aurora is hold a full week of veterans activities. See this article for more info.

BATAVIA — Memorial Day Ceremony: The ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Monday May 30, 2016, at VFW Post 1197.

EAST AND WEST DUNDEE — Dundee Memorial Day Parade: Sunday, May 29, 2016. The parade begins 2 p.m. at Main and Van Buren streets and continues west to Grafelman Park where a ceremony will be held to remember the people who died while serving in the Armed Forces.

ELBURN — the Memorial Day Parade traditionally is hosted by American Legion Post 630 and starts at 10 a.m. at Lions Park and ends at Blackberry Township Cemetery. There is a brief service at the cemetery and then folks return to Lions Park for food and social events. For more information, visit the village’s website

ELGIN — Elgin Memorial Day Services: The Elgin Patriotic Memorial Association, in cooperation with the city of Elgin, will sponsor a variety of programs for Memorial Day:

• 8:45 a.m. — Mount Hope Cemetery, 1001 Villa Street Elgin, IL
• 9:15 a.m. – Lakewood Memorial Park, 30W730 US Route 20 Elgin, IL
• 9:45 a.m. – Elgin Veterans Memorial Park, 274 North Grove Avenue Elgin, IL
• 11 a.m. – Bluff City Cemetery, 945 Bluff City Boulevard Elgin, IL

GENEVA — The Annual Memorial Day Parade & Cemetery Service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, May 30, 2016. The parade and memorial service commemorate fallen veterans from all wars and conflicts. Parade goes begins at the Geneva Metra Station, goes north on Third Street, and ends at West Side Cemetery.

HAMPSHIRE / BURLINGTON — The Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony takes place at 10:30 a.m. Monday, May 30, 2016. The parade starts at Hampshire Middle School and marches to Ralph Seyller Memorial Park, where a ceremony will be held at 11 a.m.

HUNTLEY — Huntley Memorial Day Parade: Monday, May 30, 2016. The Memorial Day Parade will begin at the Municipal Complex at 11 a.m. and will continue west on Main Street to Woodstock Street. At the conclusion of the parade, there will be speakers and a presentation honoring our veterans.

KANEVILLE — 121^st Memorial Day Program: Monday, May 30, 2016 at 10 a.m. Special music is presented by local musicians. Operation Support Our Troops members will give a presentation on their efforts to send care packages to troops serving in harm’s way. Children will have an opportunity to place flowers on veterans’ graves, and Harner’s Bakery will serve doughnuts with coffee and lemonade.

MAPLE PARK — A Memorial Day Ceremony takes place from 9 a.m. to noon Monday, May 30, 2016. Services will be held at six cemeteries in town. Following cemetery ceremonies, a free community lunch will be held at noon at the Maple Park American Legion Post, 203 Main Street Maple Park.

ST. CHARLES — Memorial Day Events: Monday, May 30, 2016, various times.

• 6 a.m., Flag Raising, Baker Community Center
• 6:30 a.m., Cemetery Ceremonies. Boy Scouts will place flags on the grave sites of our veterans at each of the cemeteries in St. Charles. Ceremonies include an honor guard, firing squad and posting of colors. They will begin at the South Cemetery (east side of 7th Avenue, north of Madison), continue on to the North Cemetery (west side of Illinois Route 25/5th Avenue, north of Johnor Avenue), then conclude at the Union Cemetery (east side of Illinois Route 25/5th Avenue, north of Stonehedge Road).
• 10 a.m., Parade. The parade begins at 6^th and Main Streets at 10 a.m. and continues east to Riverside Avenue.
• 10:45 a.m., Ceremony at the Freedom Shrine (along river behind Police Station)
• A picnic immediately follows the ceremony at the Pottawatomie Park Pavilion. The picnic is free and open to the public compliments of the St. Charles Veterans Organizations.

SOUTH ELGIN — Memorial Day Celebration: Monday, May 30, 2016 at 10 a.m. The ceremony will be held at Panton Mill Park.

WEST DUNDEE — Memorial Day Service: Monday May 30, 2016 11:30 a.m. A ceremony will be held at River Valley Memorial Gardens to honor all of our Country’s Veterans. The spiritual address will be given by a local minister. The local Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW Ladies’ Auxiliary, Bugler and Dundee Scottish Pipe band.

About the Kane County Veterans Memorial

The Kane County Veterans Memorial was conceived in 1997 to honor the men and women Kane County who died while on active duty in the United States Armed Forces during a time of war. The Memorial was dedicated on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2004. The Wall of Honor is the repository for the names of the Kane County’s sons and daughters who have died during every war from the Spanish/American War to the Persian Gulf War.

The Wall of Honor now is inscribed with the names of 857 men and women from Kane County who have died while on Active Duty during a time of war. Rotolo Middle School in Batavia maintains a website with information about the men and women who are memorialized on the Memorial: https://sites.google.com/a/bps101.net/kanewarmemorial/

History of Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America. More than two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. While Waterloo, NY, was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.

Regardless of the exact date or location of its origins, one thing is clear: Memorial Day was born out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11.

“The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I, when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war.

It is now observed in almost every state on the last Monday in May with Congressional passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363). This helped ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays, though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: Jan. 19 in Texas; April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

SOURCE: MemorialDay.org