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Streator veterans mark Veterans Day in the rain, recall their service and sacrifice · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Streeter veterans mark Veterans Day in the rain, recall their service and
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  sacrifice. Written by Michael Urbanek. This article is being read by
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  an automated voice, brought to up by Everlet. It’s not raining, Ron
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  Sauers said, recalling words spoken to him by a minister 40 years
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  ago at the commemoration of Veterans Memorial Plaza in the Streator City
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  Park. Those are God’s tears.
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  It rained again on Wednesday as veterans, along with their families, friends,
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  and the people of Streator, gathered at the Plumb Pavilion to celebrate
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  and remember those who have served in the United States military on
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  Veterans Day.
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  Sauers, a Vietnam veteran, was joined on stage by his fellow veterans,
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  family members of veterans, and the Streator Grade School Band.
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  He was also joined by Jack Graham, who also spoke to the
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  crowd.
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  In World War I and World War II, men went off to
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  war and women went to the factories to build whatever was needed,
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  Graham said. Times have changed, though, since then. Now both men and
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  women proudly serve in the United States Armed Forces, and we still
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  have great support back here in the United States.
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  Sauers said the American Legion and VFW ran a program at the
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  Villas of Hollybrook Tuesday, where he met a woman who was a
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  TWA stewardess on planes returning veterans home from Vietnam.
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  She told me many stories about the long, slow flights home, and
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  the soldiers who hopped and hollered as we passed the 12-mile limit,
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  getting out of Vietnam airspace, Sauers said. She talked mainly about the
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  quietness of the troops who sat on that plane, starting to plan
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  the rest of their lives.
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  Those troops often came back home to start working, becoming part of
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  their communities again, and they never stopped giving, Sauers said.
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  He pointed to the Vietnam Memorial in the southeast side of the
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  City Park. It was built in 1986, and dedicated on Oct. 25,
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  1985. Sauer said 13 men started building the memorial that January. Today,
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  only four of those veterans are left.
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  We miss our friends, Sauers said. We miss our friends who help
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  support the community and its veterans.