Honoring Sacrifices at DuPage County Veterans’ Memorial

The sun cast its warm rays on the DuPage County Veterans’ Memorial on a Sunday afternoon. This massive sundial symbolizes the sacrifices made in wars throughout history. The grief that these losses bring transcends time itself for the families of 26 county residents who died while serving in the military, beginning with the Black Hawk War in 1832. Many of those who died were under 30 years old.

Among them was U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Nicholas Larson. He graduated from high school in 2003 and joined the military. Deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was killed during the assault on Fallujah on November 9, 2004, at the age of 19. Dave Larson, Nicholas’ father, attended an observance event near the county fairgrounds before Memorial Day with his wife. Around his neck hung a dog tag necklace featuring a yearbook photo of Nicholas smiling.

“You lose your grandparents and your parents eventually, but losing a child is brutal,”

Dave Larson shared. Surrounded by white steel crosses in a semicircle with red, blue, and white artificial flowers and a small U.S. flag, he stood by his son’s cross. He expressed relief that he and his wife stopped dwelling on regrets, focusing instead on their son’s actions.

The first cross belonged to Navy Commander Dan Shanower, a 40-year-old victim of the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. Other soldiers listed were killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“You see enough of this stuff… I pray we get out of there,”

Larson remarked, referencing the U.S.-Israel campaign in Iran initiated in February, which resulted in thousands dead in Iran and Lebanon and 13 U.S. military fatalities.

The small ceremony saw Gold Star families sit near flagpoles displaying the flags of the United States, Illinois, DuPage County, and the POW/MIA flag. Captain Anthony Catella, chaplain with the U.S. Veteran Reserve Corps, delivered a speech borrowing from works by Johnny Cash and John Wayne, as well as President Kennedy’s inaugural address.

“Since this country was founded, every generation of Americans has marched for liberty and freedom,”

Catella said. He listed both domestic and international conflicts dating back to revolutionary battles in 1775.

“Mission accomplished. But in a larger sense, my countrymen, not yet. Not yet,”

he noted, emphasizing the ongoing struggle for peace and enduring freedom.

After a weapons salute with three shots resonating across the pond at the memorial, bagpipes played “Amazing Grace.” The county flag was lowered to raise the Gold Star service flag for the first time. The color guard concluded the Memorial Day celebration, marking tribute to DuPage County residents who served in conflicts from the Black Hawk War to recent military engagements.