Memorial wall honoring fallen Illinois soldiers coming to Bloomington

Posted on July 23, 2015
Fallen Heroes Memorial Wall
The Fallen Heroes Memorial Wall will be on display at the Treehouse Lounge in Bloomington on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Luis Sandoval)

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Soldiers from Illinois who were killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being honored on a memorial wall that’s being brought to Bloomington.

The Warrior Brotherhood Veterans Motorcycle Club is delivering the traveling wall to the Treehouse Lounge on Friday and will be at the lounge on Saturday.

“The wall is beautiful and anybody who has family (service members) can come and see if for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the War on Terrorism,” coordinator Luis Sandoval said.

Sandoval, who service in Iraq in 2003-04, told WJBC’s Dan Swaney the riders will also be taking part in a memorial ride through McLean County beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday.

“We’ve had a lot of donations from the local area that helped us out,” Sandoval said.

Money raised will be benefit the HOOAH Deer Hunt for Heroes based in Stanford and the Defenders of Freedom veterans home in Galesburg.

Prior to the ride, the group will hear from Carolyn Maupin, an American Gold Star Mother. Her son, Matt Maupin, was a POW who died in the Iraq War in 2004.

The memorial wall will be in Bloomington the same weekend the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will be in LeRoy. The motorcycle ride includes a stop there.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…