Field Of Honor Honoring Local Veterans To Dedicated Saturday In Palos

PALOS HILLS, IL — This is for the World War I dough boys, the Greatest Generation who fought World War II, the Vietnam veterans who didn’t get the homecoming they deserved, the soldiers and pilots of Operation Desert Storm and the Persian Gulf, and all the young men and women whose names belong to the ages.

Service members, past, present and deceased, will be remembered this coming weekend, Sept. 10 through Sept. 13, in a solemn display of over 200 flags in solemn formation at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills. Organizers are hoping the “Field of Honor” will bring the community together in a patriotic tribute to honor past and current veterans, as well as active military.

Sertoma, Hickory Hills Kiwanis and Palos-area Lions clubs are teaming up to raise funds for the Field of Honor, in conjunction with the Colonial Flag Foundation. Flags were by a friends and family who wished to have a particular person represented. Each flag has the name of service member or veteran, their branch of service, and era in which they served.

The local project was started by Mike Lebarre, a Palos Hills alderman and member of the Hills Kiwanis Club. Lebarre read that Kiwanis clubs throughout the country were hosting Field of Honor events, and he thought it would be a worthwhile endeavor to bring to the community.

“This is the least we can do for our veterans,” Lebarre told Patch. “We owe them more than we can ever repay them.”

An opening ceremony will be held on Moraine Valley’s Palos Hills campus, 9000 W. College Parkway, Saturday, Sept. 10, at 11 a.m., between the college’s main entrance and the tennis courts located along 111th Street. It will feature a welcome address by Palos Hills mayor, Gerald Bennett, a keynote address by Lieutenant Col. Dale Carver, patriotic music and a reading of the names of those commemorated by a Field of Honor flag. An Honor Walk through the rows of flags will follow the ceremony. The event is free, and everyone in the community is invited to attend.

In addition, there is a banner, which organizers are calling a "Wall of Honor," where family and friends can send names of loved ones who served in the Armed Forces. Send names, rank, and branch of service to mlebarre@paloshillsweb.org.