Monday is Memorial Day, a day when thousands of people go to Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood for a ceremony. But not this year.
For the past two weeks, Fred Siegel says he’s gotten about four phone calls a day, all wondering if there will be a public ceremony at Chicago’s closest national cemetery.
The answer is no.
Siegel is a member of the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Memorial Squad, volunteers who pay tribute to veterans who have died.
“All of us feel a deep commitment, especially Memorial Day, to honor these men. And it’s an opportunity, unfortunately, that we won’t be able to do through the ceremony,” he told WBBM Newsradio Thursday.
“But that doesn’t mean they won’t be in our minds and hearts.”
The cemetery will be open Memorial Day for families to place flags and flowers on the graves of their loved ones.