Saying that veterans deserve more than one day each year, Willow Springs Village Trustee Mike Kennedy Jr. was among the 100 or so who attended the dedication of the village’s new veterans memorial on a blustery morning Nov. 8.
Kennedy, who served on submarines for nine years in the Navy, is one of 15 veterans to have bricks installed at the memorial found at the base of the flagpole in front of the village hall.
“I was in from 1986 to 1995. A submarine guy. I was E-6, first class. I served on the Santa Fe and the Guardfish,” Kennedy said.
He was first stationed in San Diego, then on instructor duty in Orlando, then to Connecticut to help finish building the Santa Fe and was on that sub when it headed to Hawaii.
“The Panama Canal was pretty awesome, really cool. You get a gunboat escort,” he said.
Kennedy was 21 when he enlisted, “at the point of my life when I needed to do something, so I chose the Navy.”
“It was the best job I ever had. I just enjoyed it so much. The people.The camaraderie . All the places I’ve seen,” he said.
Unlike the German sub parked at the Museum of Science Industry, today’s subs are about three times as large, he said. “It’s 365 feet long and 33 feet around.”
He knows the significance of Nov. 11 to our nation.
“Veterans Day is a day we can honor the people who served our country. They need to be recognized. You’ve got all kinds of months,” said Kennedy, a trustee since 2017.
Mayor Melissa Nedermeyer, in her remarks, said the memorial “honors the men and women who have served our country with courage, integrity and selflessness.”
She called the memorial “a lasting place in Willow Springs where that gratitude will live on for generations to come.”
The village’s veterans commission and beautification commission worked together “to help bring this vision to life,” she said.
With two benches on either side, the memorial is a place where people can reflect about their loved ones “who devoted themselves to service and sacrifice,” she said.
The front of the village hall was renovated this year, so the village’s public works department had to tear out new bricks and install the bricks honoring veterans. The bricks are just west of the flag pole.
“I think we have 10 or 12 more (bricks) coming,” Public Works Director Keith Grantland said.
One of those bricks will bear the name of Paul Kessenich, 78, of Willow Springs. After the ceremony, he was busy filling out a form to order his brick.
A West Point graduate who grew up in Milwaukee, Kessenich served in the Army in Vietnam from 1969 to 1974.
“I was kind of lucky. I was in the general staff position. I was in Da Nang. Support. Logistics,” he said.
He likes the looks of the new memorial and its location near the village hall entrance where it will be seen by many.
“It’s nice they included the space for us,” Kessenich said.
Veterans Day means a lot to him.
“Like Memorial Day, I feel it’s a day to honor those who gave their lives. I know Veterans Day is for all veterans, alive and dead. I had 18 West Point classmates who died in Vietnam,” he said.
