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Community Corner

See History - Bring History

Pillars of Honor, Inc. a not for profit organization and Oakton Place, Senior LivingFacility announces a special event to be held at Oakton Place, 1665 Oakton Place, Des Plaines, Illinois on Sunday May 20, 2012 from 1 to 4 pm.  Pillars of Honor will have for display and viewing the original model of the World War II Memorial that is located in Washington DC. This is a rare occasion, as usually the model can only be seen at Pillars of Honor programs that have been presented in the greater Chicagland area. Pillars of Honor have programs scheduled that will take the memorial not only locally but to other states as well. You can see their schedule at  www.pillarsofhonor.org  The World War II Memorial Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on May25, 1993. In 1997 the design that was chosen was from the architect, Fredrich St.Florian. This model was used by Bob Dole to present to Congress, as the winning design from 400 submissions in the nationwide competition. Pillars of Honor is using this model to take to venues to bring the WWII Memorial experience to those WWII Veteransthat can not travel to Washington DC to see the actual Memorial in person. Due to the ages of our WWII heroes, Pillars of Honor understands how important it is to get to as many WWII Veterans as soon as they can. This day at Oakton Place will be a chance for Veterans, their families, friends and guests to come and see how significant this memorial is. There will be time to talk to Pillars of Honor volunteers to get more information about the Memorial, and / or more Pillars of Honor events. It is a must see Historical Event and opportunity. The model is on loan to Pillars of Honor for a limited time, and then will have to be returned to it’s owner, St. Florian, to eventually be placed in the Smithsonian.The model is a museum piece and is a piece of American history and has to be handled and treated as such.  

Once you have seen some history, by viewing the model, how about sharing some history? Bring some military items as a donation.  Oakton Place is providing a dedicated room to create a military history museum. But they need your help. The Des Plaines Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 2992 is working with Oakton Place to bring military items to this museum. If you have some items  gathering dust and would like to share it for others to see, please bring those items to donate on May 20th, and Pillars of Honor, The Des Plaines VFW and Oakton Place will be happy to accept them for the museum. A receipt will be available if you would like one. The items will become property of Pillars of Honor, The Des Plaines VFW and / or Oakton Place. Name tags of the donors will be put on the item when displayed in the museum.

If you have any questions please call the Pillars of Honor office at 847-954-0520 or Steven Schaefer at 847-452-6991

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