HOFFMAN ESTATES (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Among Memorial Day ceremonies in the Chicago area today was one in Hoffman Estates. "It's hard to put into words to describe how you feel. You feel sorrow and you miss them," said Les Montag, chairman of the Hoffman Estates Veterans Memorial outside the police station on Higgins Road.Montag enlisted im the Navy during the Vietnam War, and, while he was not sent to Southeast Asia, he knows high school buddies who were and who did not return alive. Montag said that among those remembered at this memorial are three young Marines killed in Iraq. "So (military deaths are) still happening. In fact, it's happening today and hopefully someday it'll stop," he says.
Estelle Barratt says it was important for her to attend today's ceremony. "It's good to remember that, they fought for our freedom."Michael Berthold served in the U-S Navy in the 1980s and he acknowledges there are still many people who confuse today with Veterans Day, which is in November.
"I've been thanked numerous times on Memorial Day and I respectfully tell people, I appreciate your gratitude but this is a day to be remembered for those that have fallen," Berthold said. "Veterans Day is for people, like myself, that have served their country."Berthold said he can't hold a candle to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. His wife, Julie Berthold, said she comes from a family whose military history goes back to the Civil War.
