Vietnam War veteran Andrew Brown doesn’t often talk about his service in the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade.
“If I go to talking about it, I tear up,” the former combat medic said.
That’s why Veterans Day, on which Brown and the millions of military veterans across the nation are honored, comes as a welcome acknowledgment of their service, he said.
“It feels good,” said Brown, who’s among more than 65,000 veterans living in Chicago. “Just being recognized as a veteran.”
Brown was joined by more than 100 people honoring service members Saturday at Soldier Field, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson, U.S. Sen Tammy Duckworth and other officials were in attendance, with Admiral Cecil Haney giving keynote remarks.
The ceremony was accompanied by a band playing Army medleys, opening with a swirl of flags during the presentation of colors by a JROTC Color Guard.
Pritzker called Veterans Day “a gift made possible by God and by the sacrifices of our servicemen and women.”
“Those who are willing to put their lives on the line with deep commitment to the notion that home is worth fighting for,” the governor said.
From left: Ald. Bill Conway (34th), Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), Cook County Pres. Toni Preckwinkle, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, retired Admiral Cecil D. Haney and Gov. J.B. Pritzker stand together during the City of Chicago’s Veterans Day Commemoration Ceremony at Soldier Field, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Duckworth, an Army National Guard veteran who lost her legs during a tour of duty in 2004, recounted that she’s “only alive today because my buddies carried me out of that field in Iraq.
“And I get to have that north star. I get to have that shining beacon that tells me what I need to do, every single day. And that is to live and do everything I can to support veterans to make sure that we don’t make the same mistakes that we did in the past,” Duckworth said.
Duckworth called special attention to African American Buffalo Soldiers who served on the frontier after the Civil War, and Japanese American soldiers who served in World War II while their families were being held in internment camps.
“We have a long history in this country of military men and women serving because they placed this nation ahead of themselves ahead of their own families,” she said.
Johnson called Chicago home to a “diverse group” of veterans who had served in “every conflict around the globe.” The mayor stressed the importance of providing mental health care, affordable housing and other resources to veterans who call Chicago home.
“I’m committed to working with veterans in the organization to champion them to create a city that is worthy of our veterans’ sacrifice,” he said.
Haney, who served 38 years in the Navy before retiring in 2017, honored Chicago veterans in the crowd, asking for them to stand for applause.
“We are in debt to those who pledged their selfless lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor to defend the homeland and to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America,” he said.
After the ceremony, Chicago Army veteran Harold Moore said the ceremony meant a lot to him.
“It’s heartwarming. It feels good,” Moore said. “A lot of my friends and brothers are not here. I just kind of keep the dream alive.”
Moore was joined by his fiancé Carolyn Rogers, who said she was proud that he had served and proud of her family members who had served, some of whom didn’t make it back home alive.
“People went to war to serve their country,” Rogers said. “A lot of people didn’t go with faith. They went with hope. They went knowing that they were serving a purpose in life and that purpose was serving millions of people. That’s why I’m here.”
