On the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of 1918, German forces surrendered to the Allies in a railroad car in France. Thus ended World War I, then known as the Great War. The day became known as Armistice Day. Later, to honor those who served in all wars, the name was changed to Veterans Day.
Years ago, almost every city neighborhood or suburban town had its own veterans tribute. They ranged from the cannon or tank at the town plaza or American Legion post to simple plaques put up on city street lamps. Many of those tributes are gone now, victims of age, vandalism or neglect.
During the Vietnam War and the years immediately afterwards, tributes to American troops were often a less-than-popular idea. That notion has changed in recent years, and celebrations of veterans` hard work and heroism are coming back into focus.
”They`ve had tributes for World War I and II vets, and those from Korea and Vietnam. But the newer ones pay attention to everyone,” explains Jim Craig, a Korea and Vietnam vet. ”You want to honor all of the veterans, regardless of when and where and who they are with.” Craig employed that attitude while helping design two recent veterans tributes, in suburban Streamwood and Hoffman Estates.
Of course, veterans have always been honored in Chicago and throughout the area. And not all of the tributes are on plaques adjacent to cannons or tanks. We pay our respects to veterans-of all wars, of specific wars, and even specific veterans-on monuments, on streets, on schools, on business establishments. Here is a look at a few locations where their neighbors remembered those who helped keep our country free.
Most will be the sites of remembrances on or before next Wednesday.
Veterans in general
Soldier Field, Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive: The present Bears home has seldom been the site of anything more military than the 1925 Army-Navy football game, which marked its formal dedication. Nonetheless, it was named after the nation`s military heroes.
Navy Pier, Grand Avenue and Lake Michigan: Navy Pier in its 60-plus years has been used as a Chicagofest site, a former branch of the University of Illinois, and a frequent festival center, with dreams of being converted into everything from a Harborplace mall to a municipal auditorium. In fact, almost everybody has used it except the Navy.
Contrary to its name, Navy Pier never served as a naval docking site.
West Town Tank, Grand and Campbell Avenues: A simple World War I tank, dedicated to veterans of all wars, stands guard over the Near Northwest Side`s Smith Park. The tank was recently moved there after holding down a spot at Grand and Western Avenues for decades.
Thornton Veterans Memorial, 115 E. Margaret St., Thornton: The city`s famous limestone quarry provided the 11 boulders that dominate this stunning tribute. Each boulder contains a plaque citing America`s declared and undeclared wars. The year-old memorial also features a multitude of flags-the American flag, one for each branch of the service and the POW/MIA flag.
Veterans Plaza, Milwaukee Avenue and Gunnison Street: A small shopping center in Jefferson Park is named in honor of the nation`s veterans, although no military commemorations are found there. Patrick Levar, the 45th Ward alderman, has his office in the plaza. It also contains restaurants, clothing stores and discount stores.
Eternal Flame, Daley Center Plaza: It seems as though it has been there an eternity, or at least as long as the Picasso. But the plaza`s eternal flame, honoring all veterans, has been burning only since 1972.
South Chicago Veterans Memorial, 86th Street and Commercial Avenue: A marble monument adorned with two plaques is located in this small tribute. When it was built in 1935, a World War I cannon also was here, but, the cannon was melted down during a scrap drive in World War II.
Marble shaft, Milwaukee Avenue and Higgins Road: Jefferson Park honors its soldiers with a half-obelisk. A bald eagle tops the shaft.
Streamwood Veterans Memorial, 301 E. Irving Park Rd., Streamwood: A huge concrete star decorates this 8,000-square-foot memorial. It has five points-one for each branch of the services-plus an addendum for soldiers who are prisoners of war or missing in action and another addendum currently unadorned. Each point contains a granite stone with the branch`s flag. Flagpoles fly the U.S. and POW/MIA flags. A walkway leading to the memorial contains 15 granite markers, each with statistics and information about a major American conflict.
Veterans Memorial Garden, 13 Montrose Drive, Romeoville: At one time dedicated solely to the Vietnam War, this garden now also has plaques for World War I, World War II and Korea.
Veterans Barber Shop, 6135 W. 111th St., Worth: Alfred Grajek, a barber before and after World War II, runs this shop filled with newspaper headlines and military memorabilia. Grajek also has been a leader in the creation of Worth`s Veterans War Memorial, to be completed with the placement of an eternal flame next spring.
Hoffman Estates Veterans Memorial, Golf Road and Gannon Drive, Hoffman Estates: Few local memorials of U.S. veterans are as busy as this one, which flies the flag of a different deceased veteran every Sunday. Its five monuments represent the branches of the service.
Remembering the wars
Confederate section at Oakwoods Cemetery, 67th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue: More than 4,000 Confederate soldiers who died at the South Side`s Camp Douglas prison during the Civil War were originally buried in the city cemetery, in what is now Lincoln Park. When the park was created, their remains were transferred to a mass grave on the Confederate Mound at the South Side cemetery.
Chicago Heritage Memorial Wall, 3232 S. King Drive: Funeral director Ernest Griffin honored his grandfather and other Civil War veterans with a wall near his funeral home. Griffin`s business is on the former site of Camp Douglas.
Victory Monument, 35th Street and King Drive: This 1927 monument pays tribute to the old 8th Infantry, Illinois National Guard (later the 370th Infantry, 93rd Battalion), which served in the Argonne and other campaigns. The World War I soldier perched atop the monument gives Victory its ”black doughboy” nickname.
Korean War Memorial, 113th Street and Western Avenue: The Southwest Side`s Kennedy Park is the site of the first Korean War memorial in the nation. It contains the numbers (54,245 dead, 103,284 wounded, 8,177 missing, 7,000 prisoners) of America`s ”forgotten” war.
Vietnam Survivors Memorial, 815 S. Oakley Blvd.: Honoring ”America`s longest war,” the small grassy lot converted into a plaza contains two pillars with gargoyles holding flower boxes; 10 pillars surrounding a slate mosaic map of Vietnam; and three large flagpoles displaying the U.S. and military flags.
Former site of Vietnam Museum, 5002 N. Broadway: Once decorated with the South Vietnam flag, this storefront contained memorabilia from the Vietnam struggle. A Vietnamese specialty shop is there now.
Lansing Helicopter, Glenwood-Lansing Road and Burnham Avenue, Lansing: A Vietnam-era helicopter serves to remember veterans of that war at a monument still being developed near Lansing Municipal Airport. An inscription on the monument reads ”for those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know”-words found in a U.S. soldier`s Vietnam bunker.
Mexican-American War Monument, 91st Street and Brandon Avenue: Mexican-Americans in Chicago and elsewhere have traditionally been patriotic. A memorial across the street from the predominantly Mexican-American Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in South Chicago honors the 12 parish sons who died in the Vietnam War.
Herald Square Vietnam Tribute, State Street and Wacker Drive: An 8-by-30- foot white granite memorial, with fountain, pays tribute to the city`s Vietnam veterans.
Veterans in particular
David Kennison Stone, Clark Street near Armitage Avenue: Best known locally as the last surviving member of the Boston Tea Party (he moved to Chicago and lived here until his death at 115), Kennison also fought in the Revolutionary War. A tombstone honoring him rests in southern Lincoln Park.
Lincoln Square, Western, Lincoln and Lawrence Avenues: Abraham Lincoln, the most famous veteran of the Black Hawk War, is commemorated by this North Side statue.
Logan Square, Kedzie Avenue and Logan Boulevard: This Northwest Side plaza and its namesake neighborhood are named for John Alexander Logan, a Union general who later founded the Grand Army of the Republic veterans organization and ran unsuccessfully for U.S. vice president.
Pershing Road, Chicago: Old-timers still refer to it as 39th Street, but this major South Side street was named for John J. ”Black Jack” Pershing, leader of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in World War I.
George J. Hagopian USO Center, Midway Airport, 55th Street and Cicero Avenue: Hagopian was a veteran of the World War II Burma campaign, City Council champion of veterans` rights, and the chairman of the council`s former Veterans Affairs Committee. It`s appropriate that this veteran tribute would be at Midway Airport, which itself was named after the Battle of Midway.
Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy Expressways: You don`t have to travel far to find tributes to veterans. In fact, thousands in and around Chicago travel on tributes to veterans daily. The Eisenhower (formerly Congress Expressway) was renamed for the West Point graduate, leader of Allied World War II forces and president after his 1969 death. The Kennedy (formerly Northwest) Expressway was renamed to honor the slain president (and commander of PT-109 during World War II) after his 1963 assassination.
Manuel Perez School, 1241 W. 19th St.: Chicagoan Perez single-handedly destroyed 11 enemy pillboxes in the Philippines during World War II, later winning the Congressional Medal of Honor. Local Mexican-American vets have campaigned particularly hard to keep his memory alive. In addition to the school and an American Legion post, a small plaza at 26th Street and Kolin Avenue is also named in his honor.
Olive-Harvey College, 10001 S. Woodlawn Ave.: This Chicago community college was named after two Congressional Medal of Honor winners who gave their lives early in the Vietnam War. Eighteen-year-old South Sider Milton Olive III fell on an enemy grenade in 1965, sacrificing his life but saving those of four soldiers in his unit. Hegewisch resident Carmel D. Harvey Jr., 21, was guarding a downed helicopter when an enemy bullet hit a grenade in his belt. Harvey fled the copter and ran toward the enemy, saving his troops and killing enemy soldiers.
Milton Olive III also has a downtown park named after him, the lakefront park between Lakepoint Tower and the James W. Jardine water filtration plant. An elementary school at 1326 S. Avers St. also bears his name.
Benjamin W. Davis Developmental Center, 9101 S. Jeffery Blvd.: Davis Center, a South Side school for handicapped children, was named for the first African-American general in the Army.
