The towering trees of Veterans Park provided the ample shade on a warm Monday morning for the large crowd attending a Memorial Day service. The annual ceremony is conducted by the Kewanee Veterans Council.
This year’s speaker was U.S. Coast Guard Commander (Ret.) and Kewanee City Councilman Adam Cernovich who told the story of Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro who sacrificed his life leading a daring rescue operation that shielded and safely evacuated roughly 500 trapped Marines from heavy enemy fire during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. Munro is the only member of the United States Coast Guard to receive the Medal of Honor. He was posthumously awarded the medal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt who presented it to his parents the following year.
Cernovich said the bravery displayed by Munro, who grew up in a small town in Washington state, is an example of all men and women, whether they live in a small town, like Kewanee, or a big city, who put their lives on the line for their country every day, many giving their lives in the process who we honor on Memorial Day.
Remarks were also given by Mayor Gary Moore. Ted Canellos, Commander of American Legion Post 31, conducted the annual remembrance service for POWs and MIAs, and Poppy Boys and Girls were introduced including Nate DeSchepper and Mable Ann Main for American Legion Post 31 and Bryant Robinson and Audrey Costenson for VFW Post 8078.
Musical selections were presented by the State Championship Kewanee High School Band directed by Alex Binek and Brittany Krohn,
Jerry Thompson, KVC Service Officer and master of ceremonies announced that volunteers had placed over 3,500 American flags on the graves of service men and women in Kewanee and several surrounding cemeteries and that they will be picked up on May 30. He also announced that the annual flag burning ceremony, normally held on Flag Day, will be held at a date to be announced due to a conflict on the date.
He said May 25 (Monday) would have been the birthday of the late Bob Martin, a Korean War Navy veteran and an active member of the Veterans Council who died in 2020 at the age of 87. He also pointed out that Roy C. Pettitt, a World War veteran who died at the age of 108 would have been 133 on his birthday on May 30. American Legion Post 31 was named in his honor after his death in 2001.
Thompson and Canellos read the names of the 29 veterans for whom the KVC Color Guard has conducted military honors at their funerals since last Memorial Day.
“There are fewer names than last year, but still too many,” Thompson said. “Take care of yourselves,” he said in a fervent request of veterans in the audience.
