Bedford Park honored veterans and first responders together at its Veterans Day ceremony Nov. 11 at the Wintrust Sports Complex, built around the theme “duty, honor, country.”
Village Trustee Terry Stocks was the emcee. Stocks served in the Air Force from 1957 to 1960, including one year in a designated combat zone in Korea.
He told students from the St. Laurence High School first responders class that the village has recognized first responders along with veterans for the past few years.
“There are more similarities with veterans and first responders than there are differences,” Stocks said.
For first responders, he said, the theme becomes duty, honor and community.
The ceremony opened with the presentation of colors by the University of Illinois Chicago Police color guard, the national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. The Argo Community High School choir sang a song dedicated to first responders, and the school’s orchestra played an armed forces tribute.
Mayor David Brady said Veterans Day recognizes people who served in the military and veterans who went on to serve their communities.
Brady then called up five student volunteers from St. Laurence and five from Argo for a trivia contest about National Football League figures who served in the military. Between questions, he pointed to local residents with military service to recognize them.
Stocks later told the story of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. He said he was searching for someone to present when he came across a biography of MacArthur on a streaming channel.
Stocks traced MacArthur’s career from West Point through his commands in both world wars and Korea. He said MacArthur’s farewell address at West Point centered on three words: duty, honor, country.
“Meaning of those words can only be gained through experience,” Stocks said. He added that serving in the military or as a first responder gives those words a strong meaning.
He closed by suggesting that MacArthur, true to the old soldiers’ ballad he once quoted, did not die but faded away.
The Rev. Michael Miller then asked veterans in the audience to stand and first responders to come forward and face the crowd.
Miller said a young woman called him one Thanksgiving Day, upset about people living on the streets, and asked whether they could do something. That call began an annual effort to assemble care packages and hand them out downtown, he said. Afterward, some students broke down crying when they realized the effort was reaching people who had served, according to Miller.
He then led a prayer for veterans and first responders, those living and those who have died.
Tom Tedeschi played taps, and John Ludwig played the bagpipes.
In closing, Stocks thanked Argo choir director Nicole Durkin and orchestra director Megan Fitzgerald for their students’ performance. The program ended with the retirement of the colors and a luncheon at the sports complex.
