Woodridge Memorial Day Parade and Annual Service

Woodridge VFW Post 1578, along with the Lisle/Woodridge Fire Department, will sponsor the annual Memorial Day parade on Monday, May 27th , beginning at 9:00 am. The VFW invites ALL VETERANS, regardless of branch of service, age, or duty, to join and march along.

The parade will line up at Fire Station 2 (75th Street and Woodridge Drive) at 8:30 am and will proceed north on Woodridge Drive, then east on Center Drive to Memorial Park.

The parade will be silent and solemn. The District 68 Marching Band Drumline will provide a cadence. Many Color Guards will be present. The VFW will then have a Memorial Day Service. The public is invited to attend. Memorial Day is not a day of celebration, as if it were the Fourth of July, although our national colors have had a prominent place in its observance since the Civil War. The distinction has to do with what we are celebrating --not a glorious beginning but an honorable end--an end which, whether it were heroic or not, should be observed and remembered with solemnity and reverence. Memorial Day is a day we dedicate to the dead--to remember those who fell in defense of this country and the ideals which this country stands for. War should not be the occupation of humankind. To ensure that it is not, to ensure that it does not touch every household and every living being, some have forfeited their lives. They did not choose to die for us. Instead, they chose, or were sometimes required, to live in a manner which brought them in harm's way, and to that harm they fell. Our task is not to validate the sacrifice but to acknowledge it, to remember that it was made. And if any validation is necessary, it is for we the living to prove that we are worthy of the sacrifice through dedication toward the peace that was purchased by these honored dead.

For more information, please contact Woodridge VFW Post 1578 at 630-910-1578 .