About 150 people gathered at Patriot Park on the Evanston lakefront this morning to remember service members who’ve died in the nation’s wars.
Leaders of local veterans groups salute as the flags are presented.
The ceremony was moved from its usual location in Fountain Square this year because the square is being rebuilt.
The Patriot Park flag pole engraved with the names of Evanstonians who died in the Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I.
The city’s new mayor, Steve Hagerty, speaking for first time at a Memorial Day ceremony, recalled the photo he has on his office wall of his maternal grandfather, who died while serving in France during World War II.
Mayor Hagerty.
Many families have experienced similar losses, Hagerty said, so that we can enjoy freedom today.
Members of the Rickover Naval Academy High School perform a rifle salute.
More than 1.3 million Americans have died in the nation’s wars and nearly 1.5 million have been wounded.