Oak Lawn, Hometown Honor The Fallen With Memorial Day Ceremonies

OAK LAWN-HOMETOWN, IL — Oak Lawn and Hometown will be participating in a nearly 160-year tradition honoring members of the armed forces who lost their lives in service to their country on Memorial Day, which this year falls on Monday, May 29.

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 9701 S. Brandt Ave., Oak Lawn, will be holding a special service at 9 a.m. commemorating local military veterans who died after last year’s Memorial Day to the present.

Residents, veterans and active military will start gathering at 10:30 a.m. by the Oak Lawn Veterans Memorial, 9427 S. Raymond Ave. (95th Street @ Raymond Avenue).

Johnson-Phelps VFW Post 5220 will mark Memorial Day with a 21-gun salute and ceremony beginning at 11 a.m.

The ceremony includes remarks by local elected officials, laying of wreaths by various veterans groups, including the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Purple Heart Veterans and the Swallow Cliff chapter of the Illinois Daughters of the American Revolution, concluding with the playing of Taps and a 21-gun salute.

Featured speakers include Mayor Terry Vorderer, Lynn Gray of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and guest of honor Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06). Erin Jennings Vorderer will sing the National Anthem.

Everyone is invited to Johnson-Phelps VFW Post 5220, 9514 S 52nd Ave., Oak Lawn, for coffee and pastry after the ceremony.

“As a combat soldier of Vietnam, I often think of the men and women who died in my presence,” Mayor Terry Vorderer said. “It’s our sacred duty to ensure the name of our heroes are remembered and that their memory is not lost to history. These soldiers are the truest Americans.”

Hometown

The City of Hometown will be holding a Memorial Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. Gather at the Hometown-Murray VFW Post 9773, 9092 S. Main St. Neighbors, veterans and active military will walk as a group north to Patterson Park, 8780 S. Main St.. The ceremony will take place by the cannon.