Vietnam Veterans Keep The Torch Lit At Oak Lawn VFW

OAK LAWN, IL — As they have done every Memorial Day since the end of World War II, the loyal Oak Lawn veterans of Johnson-Phelps VFW Post 5220 arrive early at the Veterans Memorial behind the library to start setting up for the remembrance ceremony.

Following a special service at the Oak Lawn Bible Church, the post members get back a half hour before the ceremony is set to begin.

“We get all the wreaths and guns together for a volley salute. We find out who wants to give speeches,” said post member Rick Luemen, who has the whole ceremony down to a science.

Like thousands of other veterans organizations around the country, these veterans keep the torch burning for the names etched the Oak Lawn Veterans Memorial that now belong to the ages.

Twenty-three young men from the Oak Lawn area lost their lives in World War II. In 1944-1945, a group of returning veterans from the South Side got together to form a Veterans of Foreign Wars. The charter was obtained in January 1946. The names of the 23 young men were put into a hat. Two names were drawn and the post got its name: Johnson-Phelps.

Veterans install a Nike missile in front of the Johnson-Phelps VFW, circa 1964. | OLPL

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Johnson, Raymond H. Johnson enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 15, 1942, according to the post's 40th anniversary booklet available in the Oak Lawn Public Library’s Local History Room. Johnson served in Ordnance, a military unit responsible for overseeing guns, rockets, missiles, ammunition and armor. He earned the rank of T-5th Grade, or technician fifth grade, a rank created to recognize enlisted soldiers with special technical skills, but who were not necessarily trained for combat. After two years in Ordnance, Johnson was sent to Oran, Africa, where he was killed in action March 30, 1945.

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Leslie Phelps was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Asa Phelps. He was inducted in the Armed Forces in May 1941. After two years stateside, Phelps was sent to England where he stayed until D-Day, when he landed in Normandy. He was with the Spearhead Div. 3rd Army that fought all across Normandy to Belgium. Phelps was wounded in action Oct. 27, 1944, and died in an Army hospital Nov. 9, 1944.

The post number – “5220” – reminded members of the $20 dollars they received for 52 weeks after they were discharged.

Over the years, smaller posts in the city who were losing members to the suburbs, merged with Johnson-Phelps. The World War II veterans were joined a few years later by veterans returning from Korea.

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Luemen, a retired Chicago police officer, said he did not encounter the protesters at the airport that many other returning Vietnam veterans experienced coming home.

“I came back in 1967. I wore my uniform the whole time in the airports and no one even bothered me,” Lueman said, who servied U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division, distinguished by their black Stetsons. "My father came back from World War II, so did my cousins who fought in Korea. They didn't get a parade."

He was more surprised by the $3 drinks at the airport bar, when he was used to paying a dime in Vietnam.

Johnson-Phelps VFW Post 5220 continues to be a leader in community service and supporting veterans hospitals. Its signature project is the black granite Veterans Memorial behind the Oak Lawn Public Library, 9427 S. Raymond Ave.

A driving force behind raising money and erecting the granite memorial was Gene Gallagher, one of the post’s founding directors. Gallgher got the memorial up and dedicated in 1996. Two weeks later, Gallagher stepped out of the Oak Lawn library and dropped dead.

“It was like that was what he was meant to do,” Luemen said. “His work was done.”

On Saturday nights, the post’s large banquet room is bustling with Quinceañeras, wedding receptions and reunions. The post also has a bar and lounge that is open to the community, with karaoke nights and DJs. Bingo is on Wednesday.

In it's heyday, the post boasted 1,280 memberships. Today, the post has 320 members. Among the current membership are a dozen or so veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

“We call them the desert guys,” Luemen said. “We like to get more of them.”

One of the “desert guys,” Tony Smertene, is the current post commander.

“We lost all our World War II guys and Korean guys,” Luemen said. “The Vietnam veterans are the oldest members in the post. We’re ready to hand over the reins to the desert guys.”

Community members are invited to join the veterans of Johnson-Phelps VFW Post 5220 for a Memorial Day remembrance ceremony Monday, May 27. Participants will begin gathering at 10:30 a.m. by the Veterans Memorial behind the Oak Lawn Public Library, 9427 S. Raymond Ave. The ceremony will start at 11 a.m. Bring your kids and grandkids.