Never let it be said Park Forest does not honor its history of being a G.I. town; a community primarily built for veterans returning home after World War II and unable to find affordable housing for growing families.
Nearly 75 years after the village was incorporated, it still pays attention to those who fought for this country.
Some 18 streets in the newfangled village are named for Illinoisan who were Medal of Honor recipients in that war. Large banners honoring residents who served in the military dot the light poles along Main Street and the village has a flourishing Veterans Closet, which offers basic necessities of life, such as furniture, clothes, pots and pans, free to all veterans.
Each year on Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, as most other communities, Park Forest stands at attention in honoring those who fought and died in our wars. But this year the village, in the person of its Veterans Commission, jumped the gun for Veterans Day.
While most other entities will honor service members Nov. 11, Park Forest did it Saturday as more than 100 attended in Freedom Hall. Outside of the building, near a long row of U.S. flags, a mock-up of a Korean War surgical hospital, a MASH unit, was on display. One can assume the display meant more to some than simply a celebrated movie and television program.
The speaker this day was Terry Prince, the director of the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs.
“It was the only day we could get him,” explained Mike Gans, who volunteers at the closet and works closely with all things labeled veterans in the village.
As with others in Park Forest, Gans never served in the Armed Forces, but four family members served in three different wars from World War II to Vietnam. What he does now, he says, is a personal thank-you note to his family and to posterity.
When asked, Prince, a 31-year Navy veteran, checked off the primary needs and concerns for all ex-service personnel. Better access to care at veterans’ hospital was at the top of his list of musts.
“The wait time for appointments is too long,” he replied before talking about the silent destroyer, the suicide rate among all veterans.
“We lose about 17 to 22 veterans to suicide every day,” he estimated, adding the vital need for counseling and care is one of his priorities.
Four banners hung in Freedom Hall honoring military medical personnel: Susan Pitcher, a nurse in World War II called “the Angel of Bataan”; Howard Robinson, health care administrator for the Illinois National Guard; Hector Sandoval, a medical corpsman killed in Vietnam, and Major Katie Lanning, named the 2023 Airman of the Year for her work in airlifting wounded patients out of Afghanistan
Ann LaFrance vice chair of the village’s Veterans Committee, introduced Sandoval’s daughter, Sandee, who was born just days before her father’s death and who, shortly his death, was brought to Park Forest by her mother.
As usual in this tribute, there were color guards and patriotic songs. It was Park Forest Mayor Joe Woods, the village’s “poet laureate,” who summed up the significance. Born and raised at the Army base at Fort Riley, Kansas, Woods told of his brother who was born in Germany, two uncles who fought in the Korean War, two cousins who served in the Army, cousins in the Army and a nephew in the Navy.
“I know absolutely nothing, nor will I ever know, the soul that drives one to give of themselves the ultimate sacrifice,” Woods said. “I will never know the enthusiasm of liberty that urges one to rise above oneself in the service of others, no matter the cost.
“And I will never know the silence, the painful private thoughts and memories that many a veteran brings home with them.”
Woods then told the audience, “However, I thank you for making it so that I don’t have to know.”
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
