Flossmoor Girl Scouts Aim To Honor 100 Local Veterans To Earn Badge

FLOSSMOOR, IL — Flossmoor Veterans’ Memorial, Inc. (FVM) is joining Flossmoor Girl Scout Troop 65547 to recognize area veterans during November 2022.

At a recent weekly meeting at Western Avenue School, Junior Scouts began work on their "Honoring Our Veterans" badge, created by Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois in conjunction with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth. The badge requires Scouts to learn about a veteran’s story and a community veterans’ program. They are then required to complete a veteran-related community service project.

Troop 65547 has started a "100 More Veterans" project, which will help FVM locate the names of 1,000 current or former Flossmoor residents who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. To date, FVM has located the names of 900 Flossmoor veterans, from World War I to the present day, as part of its $100,000 Wall of Honor fundraising effort. The troop’s efforts, which will include writing up a short story on each veteran located, will move FVM closer to its 1,000 veteran goal.

"Flossmoor’s Boy and Girl Scout troops were both instrumental to launching our 2021 campaign to build the Flossmoor Veterans’ Wall of Honor,” said retired Flossmoor Mayor Paul Braun, who serves as FVM’s president. "While online history databases make veterans from Flossmoor’s early years easier to find, ocating current veterans’ names is a more difficult challenge. Troop 65547’s efforts truly help us reach that remarkable goal of locating 1,000 current or former Flossmoor residents who have served our country."

"We are delighted to assist Flossmoor Veterans’ Memorial, Inc., in their efforts to raise community awareness of this veterans’ project,” said Karen Cheung, Troop 65547 Leader. "We will have an opportunity to share the stories our Scouts uncover with Senator Duckworth. In addition, we will add the names of every new veteran we find to a canvas replica of the original 1945 Honor Roll decorated by the troop. This gives the girls a sense of this effort, its history, and the ways in which they can preserve history for future Girl Scouts."

In partnership with CN Railroad, FVM expects to construct a $100,000 Veterans’ Wall of Honor on a 9,500 square foot parcel north of Flossmoor Road and east of the Metra/CN tracks. Designed by Flossmoor architect Michael Matthys, the Wall of Honor will provide a tribute to all current and former Flossmoor residents who are serving or have served our nation’s Armed Forces.

In addition to Braun, other corporate officers and members of the fundraising and communications subcommittees include John Beele, Kristine Condon, Richard Condon, Flossmoor Village Trustee Brian Driscoll, Jim Fornaciari, Josh Grenard, Robert Guilfoyle, Phil Lee, Flossmoor Village Clerk Gina LoGalbo, Tony Manos, Greg Mitchell, Erich Stockwell, and Calvin Young. Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson is serving as an ex-officio member of the committee.

For more information, or to provide the name of a veteran to the group’s commemorative program booklet, visit @honoringflossmoorvets on Facebook/Instagram, @FlossmoorVWH on Twitter, https://flossmoorvets.square.s... on the Web, or flossmoorvets@gmail.com via e-mail.