Woodridge VFW Post to Hold Memorial Day Parade, Service
The parade will kick off at 9 a.m. at 75th Street and Woodridge Drive.
Vfw Post 1578
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Sunday, May 27, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Woodridge VFW Post to Hold Memorial Day Parade, Service
The parade will kick off at 9 a.m. at 75th Street and Woodridge Drive.
Honor Memorial Day with the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Department and the Woodridge VFW Post 1578. Both groups will host a Memorial Day parade on Monday. The parade will kick off at 9 a.m. The route will start at Fire Station 2 at 75th Street and Woodridge Drive, proceed north on Woodridge Drive and east on Center Drive to Memorial Park. The parade will be silent and solemn. Many color guards will be present. A Memorial Day service will follow the parade. The public is invited to attend.
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Thursday, September 8, 2011
Woodridge VFW: Fly an American Flag on 9/11
The post encourages all residents to fly a flag outside their homes, offices, apartments and stores in remembrance of those who lost their lives 10 years ago.
Woodridge VFW Post #1578 is encouraging all residents to fly an American flag on Sunday, Sept. 11, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Flags should be displayed outside every home, apartment, office and store in the United States, the post said in a release. "On Sunday, September 11th, 2011, an American flag should be displayed outside every home, apartment, office, and store in the United States," the post said in a "Every individual should make it their duty to display an American Flag on the 10th anniversary of one of our country’s worst tragedies," the release said. "We do this in honor of those who lost their lives on 9/11/01, their families, friends and loved ones who continue to endure the pain, and those who today are …
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Friday, May 27, 2011
VFW, Lisle-Woodridge Fire Department to Host Memorial Day Parade Monday
Honor Memorial Day with a silent parade through Woodridge.
Honor those who have died in service to our country with a silent parade in Woodridge Monday morning. The parade will line up at Fire Station 2 of the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Department at 8:30 a.m. and start at 9 a.m. It will then proceed north on Woodridge Drive, then east on Center Drive to Memorial Park Woodridge VFW Post 1578 and the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Department are sponsoring the parade. The VFW post has invited all veterans, regardless of branch of service, age, or duty to march along. The parade will silent and solemn.
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Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Woodridge VFW Post Holds Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony
About 30 people came to the Woodridge Public Library for Sunday's ceremony.
About 30 people, including members of the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Department and the Woodridge Police Department, attended a ceremony honoring Pearl Harbor Day Sunday at the Woodridge Public Library. Woodridge Memorial VFW Post 1578 organized the ceremony. Tuesday is the 69th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. About 2,400 U.S. military personnel were killed and 1,250 were injured when the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack during the morning hours of Dec. 7, 1941. The post paid tribute to those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor and the 15 men who received the Medal of Honor because of their actions on that day. The post also recognized its World War II veterans. During the ceremony, World War II veteran …
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Thursday, November 11, 2010
Woodridge Patch Honors Our Veterans
Honoring Woodridge's Veterans: Bert Names
The World War II veteran was involved in the biggest naval battle ever fought.
Bert Names spent three and a half years in the Navy, and said he'd like to do it again. "I enjoyed it," he said. "I was fortunate. I happened to be at the right place at the right time all the time." He said he liked it in spite of the fact that a kamikaze plane hit the flight deck of his ship and blew up. He wasn't hurt. "The first battle that I was in, I couldn't believe it," Names said. "We went into Tarawa (part of the Gilbert Islands in the Pacific). That's the first experience I had with kamikaze planes. I was up on the flight deck watching like it was a movie. I couldn't believe what was happening." Names spent most of his time on the U.S.S. White Plains escort carrier. He was part of the biggest naval battle ever fought – the …
Woodridge Patch Honors Our Veterans
Honoring Woodridge's Veterans: Bob Kolling
Bob Kolling is a Purple Heart recipient who served during the Vietnam War.
Bob Kolling was drafted into the Army and served in Vietnam for six months in 1969 as a sniper in the First Cavalry Division. Kolling would spend three weeks in the jungle before returning to base camp for a shower and to change into clean clothes before spending another three weeks in the jungle. "We worked in two-man teams," he said. "We would go out ahead of the patrol for surveillance. ... Our job was to engage the enemy." Kolling was wounded in a machine gun ambush on Nov. 4, 1969 and lost his right leg. "It was 41 years ago last week," he said. Kolling spent a month in a hospital in Vietnam before returning to the United States, where he spent ten months in rehab at an Army hospital. In 2000, Kolling learned he had Hepatitis C, …
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Woodridge Patch Honors Our Veterans
Honoring Woodridge's Veterans: Henry Ristic
The Woodridge Patch photograher served in the Army from 1966 to 1970.
Henry Ristic received his draft notice for the Army right after he turned 20. He decided to enlist, extending his service from two years to four years. "I was going in anyway, and I thought a career in the military would be enhanced from being in four years rather than two years," Ristic said. He went through military police school and was stationed in Germany. He worked in crime investigation and customs clearance. He worked in west Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie. He also escorted prisoners of war out of Vietnam to medical facilities in Germany. In February 1967, he was named Soldier of the Month for the Seventh Army. His military career in customs led to a 30-year career with U.S. Customs in which he traveled to Panama for the turnover of …
Woodridge Patch Honors Our Veterans
Honoring Woodridge's Veterans: Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1578
The VFW post consists of 65 members with ties to Woodridge.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1578 was chartered on Nov. 9, 1983. The post doesn't have a post home; the group meets monthly in the training department of the Woodridge Police Department. The post has 65 members, making it smaller than some neighboring posts. But Sr. Vice-Commander Bob Reichert said that doesn't mean the post is any less involved in the community. "We do an awful lot," Reichert said. "We do as much as posts with 1,000 members." The post is involved with community events, including the Memorial Day parade, the all-village picnic on July 4, a ceremony on Veterans Day and a ceremony on Pearl Harbor Day. The post also has a fund to help veterans and their families. "We keep up with the needs of veterans," Reichert said. "…
Woodridge Patch Honors Our Veterans
Honoring Woodridge's Veterans: Bob Reichert
Bob Reichert was an air traffic controller in Thailand during the Vietnam War.
Bob Reichert served in the Air Force from 1970 to 1973. He spent 1972 in northeast Thailand during the Vietnam War as an air traffic controller. "My job was to keep a safe, orderly flow of air traffic," Reichert said. Reichert continued to be an air-traffic controller after returning home before working for AT&T. He's now retired. He said the homecomings for soldiers now are very different from when he returned home from Thailand. "When the Vietnam veterans came home, we weren't treated well," he said. "We were seen as dirty guys. There was name-calling. What's nice now is that there's a huge homecoming. There's a huge celebration at the airport." Reichert said that celebration has to continue. "I don't care if you are pro or against the …
