Waukegan Deputy Fire Chief Matt Burleson is a highly decorated retired member of the U.S. Army who served for 20 years before retiring. His feelings about Memorial Day were punctuated during a mission to Afghanistan.
While on the mission to provide security and help rebuild the country after the United States helped replace the Taliban with a new government in 2021, Burleson said the work was going well until suddenly everything changed.
“We were ambushed,” Burleson said. “Just like that, half my squad was wiped out. We kept everything together, fought well. I’m here to tell the stories of the guys who didn’t come back. Every day to this day, I think about them.”
Burleson was the keynote speaker at Waukegan’s annual Memorial Day Ceremony Monday at Veterans Plaza as scores of people paid tribute to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who were killed in battle.
Burleson did not talk about his wartime experiences during his speech. He concentrated on the meaning of the holiday. He did talk about the members of the fire department today, his colleagues in the Army and a headline written years ago — “Not everyone comes home.”
“Those words represent the stark reality of military service,” Burleson said. ”They represent the empty chairs at family dinner tables right here in Waukegan and across the country. They represent the stories left untold and the futures entirely given up so that our nation’s future could be secure.”
During his time in the Army, Burleson said he received 14 medals and commendations, including the Bronze Star and a combat infantry badge. The badge is his favorite because “only people in active duty combat receive it.”
Unlike past years when a parade of cadets from the Waukegan High School JROTC marched from the corner of Genesee and Washington streets to the plaza, joined by local officials, police officers, firefighters and members of the American Legion, this year it was a shorter two-block procession.
A Fire Department color guard, police cars and local officials, including Mayor Sam Cunningham, some members of the City Council and a few others walked from the police station to the plaza as American Legion Post 281 Commander Duane Peacy began the event.
Peacy pointed to the concrete half circle at the west edge of the plaza, where the names of Waukegan residents killed in action serving the United States from the Civil War through the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are written on plaques.
“This is a day of remembrance for all of them,” Peacy said, referring to the 270 names etched on 10 plaques.
Two of the most recent names were added in 2006. They were U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Edward G. Davis, III, and U.S. Army Capt. Shane Mahaffee. Davis was killed April 28, 2006, in Iraq, and Mahaffee there on May 17.
Mahaffee and Davis grew up as next-door neighbors in Waukegan. Their fathers — Edward G Davis Jr., and Steve Martin — served together in the Waukegan Police Department. The Davis and Mahaffee families placed wreaths at the memorial, and the fathers embraced.
“It was about our feelings for our sons,” Davis said of the embrace. “It’s unfortunate we had to bury our sons. Our sons helped preserve our freedom, but they paid a very heavy price.”
Among the names on the wall are 178 Waukegan residents killed during World War II. Waukegan’s population when the U.S. entered the war was 34,231, according to U.S. Census information.
“Behind every name etched on a plaque in this plaza is a story,” Cunningham said. “A son, a daughter, a friend, a neighbor, a loved one who answered the call to serve with courage and selflessness. We remember them not for how they died, but for how they lived, with bravery, purpose and a willingness to put others before themselves.”
Burleson reiterated Cunningham’s reference to the Waukeganites who were killed during the country’s wars. He said it is a time for everyone to set aside their personal political beliefs and remember who ensured their right to disagree.
“We are here to perform a vital civic duty to ensure that the names of the fallen are remembered on the bronze plaques in this plaza, that their courage is chiseled into our collective memory, and that their families know that this community will never forget the price they paid,” Burleson said.
