A Salute To The Departed

    Members of the Nashville American Legion ceremony team perform a 21-gun salute at the close of the observances on Memorial Day held at Memorial Park in Nashville at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 29.

By Alex Haglund

    Bill Flanagan spoke about the approximately 1-million American servicemen and women who have given their lives for this nation from the Revolutionary War through today while speaking to the crowd at the Nashville Memorial Day observances held at Memorial Park on the morning of Monday, May 29.

“It is for those heroes,” said Flangan, an American Legion past district commander, “that we gather here today.”

Bill Flanagan speaks on the morning of Monday, May 29, Memorial Day, at the Nashville Observances.

Flanagan was not alone at the observances, which were emceed by chaplain Bob Meier of the Nashville American Legion, and which were attended by veterans of the various branches of services, as well as members of the law enforcement community, firefighters and paramedics, all there to pay their respects to those who gave their lives for this nation.

“The City of Nashville, we thank all of you for being here,” said Mayor Erik Rolf, “and we thank our veterans both at home and abroad for what they do.”

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Lloyd Karmeier of Nashville spoke as well, giving some of the background for the poppies that have become associated with veterans and war memorials for the past century, and then reading the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Lt. Col. John McCrae, which helped to  bring the tiny red flower into our cultural conscience. See page A6 of the May 31, 2017 edition of The Nashville News for “In Flanders Fields”, also online here.

The observance also included time to remember the POW/MIA servicemen, and to let them know they are still not forgotten.

The NCHS Band was present, playing music for the ceremonies, including the songs for each of the branches of the armed services.

A list of the names of those veteran’s from the county who have died in the last year was read off, with a single high bell tone following each name.

The Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of Nashville Troop and Pack 127 were present with flags, accompanying the colors out for the ceremonies.

“Our fallen have given what Lincoln called, ‘their last full measure of devotion,’” Flanagan told those in attendance. “Let us live up to their sacrifice.”