This years Memorial Day Parade will start at 10:30 on May 27th at PBL East Lawn School at 341 E. Center St. and towards Glen Cemetery Marching units will form behind the High school Marching band at 10:00 am. Boy scouts and Girls scouts and other orginations are invited to attend. After the Parade arrives at Glen Cemetery the American Legion Post 150 will hold its annual Memorial Day observance at aprx. 11:00 am. Unfortunately there will not be a guest speaker this year, instead there will be a musical tribute performed by the PBL Hisch School Marching Band.
Category Archives: Veterans
A special page Just for Veterans
Honoring our Veterans
PBL High Schools 14th annual “Salute to Veterans Concert” will be May 18th at 7pm at the high school gym. The concert will feature patriotic music and all Armed Forces service songs. Marine Veteran Tim Hess wil direct the band and there will we a color guard courtesy of The American Legion Prairie Post 150.
This concert is free but donations are greatly appreciated. There is also a Lasagna dinnerprior to the concert hosted by the PBL Band Parents Association. The dinner is from 5-6:30 and is $7. PBL Junior High jazz bands will provide live music. The proceeds from the dinner and all donations help the PBL Band program.
This is always an excellent performance so dont miss this…
D-Day 68th Anniversary
Today marks the 68th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion.
By Professor John A. Tures, LaGrange College | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Tue, Jun 5, 2012
The 68th anniversary of D-Day is Today Here’s a look at 10 little-known facts surrounding the Allied invasion:
By Professor John A. Tures, LaGrange College
1. A number of code words from the D-Day mission (beaches Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword and Juno, operations terms Overlord and Neptune, and floating harbors named Mulberry) did appear in The Daily Telegraph crossword puzzles over the span of a month before D-Day. MI-5 investigated, but found no evidence of leaks.
2. Many of the “German” defenders weren’t even German. The Nazis conscripted a number of non-Germans (Poles, Belgians, Dutch) and East Europeans to serve as coastal units.
3. People know that “H-Hour” is the hour when the operation began. However, because of the differences in tidal conditions, H-Hour actually varied by almost an hour and a half across the Normandy assaults, according to the American Heritage Library.
3. The USS Nevada, a battleship that played a key role in naval gun support, was the only battleship to make it out of its moorings at Pearl Harbor. Though heavily damaged, it not only was repaired in time to help at D-Day, but returned to support the Iwo Jima and Okinawa invasions.
4. Most German mines failed to destroy Allied ships because they had timers set to sink after the spring, so as to not destroy German ships. The German military figured an invasion would only take place during the spring.
5. Oyster mines were not dropped by the Luftwaffe because they moved them further inland along with supply depots for greater protection, according to the book D-Day, The Invasion Of Europe.
6. The first American to make it to Normandy was Captain Frank Lillyman, who parachuted in. He was wounded later in the day, and won the Medal of Valor. He continued to serve in the military until 1968, retiring at the rank of Lt. Colonel. He died three years later.
7. General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., son of President Theodore Roosevelt, led the landings at Utah Beach, winning the Medal of Honor. A week after D-Day, he suffered a heart attack during a battle and died. He is buried in Normandy.
8. More than half the Sherman DD tanks (Duplex Drive tanks pejoratively called “Donald Ducks” for their temperamental nature), didn’t make it to Omaha Beach, most sinking short of the beach with everyone inside. Later groups that made it in closer to the shore survived, and helped capture Omaha Beach.
9. Germans deployed a number of remote-controlled “Goliath” tanks loaded with bombs, called “beetles” or doodlebugs by Americans. Most failed to detonate because blasts from naval guns disabled their command cables.
10. Among the British beaches, the Canadians took the greatest ratio of losses while capturing Juno Beach in tough fighting. Nevertheless, their unit was able ride ashore on bicycles.
For more facts on The Normandy Invasion Visit this Page
Honoring Our Veterans in Paxton, Il.
Honoring Our Veterans
It was an absolutely perfect day for being outside. Today, many Paxton residents started their day at Glen Cemetary to place Flags on the graves of all the Veterans. Most folks in town have done this for decades and it was wonderful to see everyone young and old helping out and having fun. Many of these volunteers from the American Legion Auxiliary post went on to distribute Poppies around town. Quite a busy morning for everyone. Thank you all for supporting our Veterans. From There we went out to the Memorial sign and raised the P.O.W./M.I.A. Flag and did some clean up. From there on to Union Street where we placed Flags down the entire 300 blk of N. Union and Some of E. Pine St. Just our way Paying our respect to the Men and Women of The Armed Forces who served this Nation throughout our history. Though we forgot to take out camera out to Glen Cemetary we did get some photo’s pf the Memorial sign which you can see here
Glen and Ruth, while taking some photo’s I met a couple from the Chicago area who were visiting Paxton. Avery nice coupl who were in town participating in something called Geo- casting ( I think lol) It’s like a treasure hunt. You get the coordinents ( and spell check lol) from a web site and you have to find the Items which are sometimes in the wildest places. When you find the little container you open it and sign the log insde and proceed to the next item. Anyway it was nice to meet you folks and I wish you well in your journeys.
IL Honoring Sgt Dean R. Shaffer (US Army) from Pekin
I receive Illinois e-News Summaries periodically & would like to start sharing some of the information with you. Today, I share the following release I received this morning:
Honoring Illinois’ Fallen
United States and Illinois flags at half-staff from Sunrise, Saturday, April 28, 2012 until Sunset, Monday, April 30, 2012.
The Department of Central Management Services has received notice from Governor Quinn’s Office that all persons or entities covered by the Illinois Flag Display Act are to fly the flags at half-staff on behalf of:
Sgt Dean R. Shaffer
United States Army
Hometown: Pekin, Illinois
Please lower the United States flags and the State flags at all buildings occupied by your agency’s personnel from:
Sunrise, Saturday, April 28, 2012 until Sunset, Monday, April 30, 2012
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Mike Claffey at
(312) 814-3957 or via email at mike.claffey@illinois.gov.
More information is available at http://www.illinois.gov/news/flaghonors.cfm.
Illinois Flag Display Act
I’d like to share with you (5 ILCS 465/10) of the IL Flag Display Act:
Sec. 10. Death of resident military member, law enforcement officer, or firefighter.
(a) The Governor shall issue an official notice to fly the following flags at half-staff upon the death of a resident of this State killed (i) by hostile fire as a member of the United States armed forces, (ii) in the line of duty as a law enforcement officer, or (iii) in the line of duty as a firefighter: the United States national flag, the State flag of Illinois, and, in the case of the death of the member of the United States armed forces, the appropriate military flag as defined in subsection (b) of Section 18.6 of the Condominium Property Act. Upon the Governor’s notice, each person or entity required by this Act to ensure the display of the United States national flag on a flagstaff shall ensure that the flags described in the notice are displayed at half-staff on the day designated for the resident’s funeral and the 2 days preceding that day.
(b) The Department of Veterans’ Affairs shall notify the Governor of the death by hostile fire of an Illinois resident member of the United States armed forces. The Department of State Police shall notify the Governor of the death in the line of duty of an Illinois resident law enforcement officer. The Office of the State Fire Marshal shall notify the Governor of the death in the line of duty of an Illinois resident firefighter. Notice to the Governor shall include at least the resident’s name and Illinois address, the date designated for the funeral, and the circumstances of the death.
(c) For the purpose of this Section, the United States armed forces includes: (i) the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard; (ii) any reserve component of each of the forces listed in item (i); and (iii) the National Guard.
(d) Nothing in this Section requires the removal or relocation of any existing flags currently displayed in the State. This Section does not apply to a State facility if the requirements of this Section cannot be satisfied without a physical modification to that facility.
(Source: P.A. 95-596, eff. 9-11-07; 96-436, eff. 8-14-09.)
You may read more of the Illinois Flag Display Act by clicking here.