-By Warner Todd Huston
Memorial Day Parade, Wheaton, Ill– Illinois Congressman Peter Roskam (R, 6th District) walked in the Wheaton Memorial Day Parade to some applause and ended the exercise by speaking to those assembled at the Wheaton Cemetery to commemorate those that have served us in peace and war and those who gave their last full measure so that we could remain the last best hope of the world.
The weather could not have been better as the parade stepped off this morning. The skies were clear and Summer temperatures had finally arrived. As the route rolled on the heat did tend to rise, though. Still, compared to the dismal weather we’ve seen the last few months, this Memorial Day was a welcome respite.
Rep. Roskam had a group of about fifty supporters march with him and I joined them to document the event. As we walked the distance from downtown Wheaton to the Wheaton Cemetery it was obvious that the congressman had many fans along the route. There were surprised smiles and a healthy amount of applause as the congressman and his lovely wife led the contingent.
There was a bit of confusion over where Roskam was going to appear to commemorate our troops as the City of Elmhurst, where Roskam usually walks, had advertised his marching in that town’s parade. The congressman, however, had chosen Wheaton for a change. Adding to the confusion, Wheaton did not advertise the congressman’s appearance at all.
One note of disappointment came from one of the local GOP committeemen who noted that less than half a dozen area committeemen were in attendance to support the troops in Wheaton, the center of DuPage County and the county seat. One would think that from the over 100 local committeemen, more would have been in attendance than just five or six. Let us hope they were attending services elsewhere.
Roskam’s short address to those gathered at the cemetery carried a hopeful note. Referencing the Biblical story of Joseph whose jealous brothers sold him into slavery, Roskam noted that once Joseph found fame and position essentially as — in Roskam’s characterization — Egypt’s “Prime Minister,” he confronted his brothers without malice saying that it was God’s will that he, Joseph, was now in a powerful position to save them all.
This, Roskam told us, is just like the U.S.A. We have had dear losses but they have been sacrificed so that the U.S. could remain the light of the world and so that we could be in a position to bring safety and freedom not just to ourselves but to many millions of others.
A wreath was laid in memory of such local soldiers as Medal of Honor recipient Army Staff Sgt. Robert Miller, Cpl. Kevin Oratowski, First Lieutenant Kevin Landeck, all recently killed in action as well as those thousands who came before them.
Photos of the Parade
… here I am preparing to start off on the parade in my 1950s era Stetson “Genuine Panama” Straw fedora and vintage Hawaiian shirt.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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