DeKalb County Army veteran says standing vigil to honor comrades a ‘time to reflect’

SYCAMORE – More than 40 veterans will stand guard outside the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore until 3 p.m. Saturday for the annual 24-hour Veterans Honor Veterans Vigil.

Vietnow, a veterans group, started the vigil in 1986 and it has continued ever since, even though the group has since disbanded. Dwain Adkins, a Specialist Five Vietnam Army veteran, has been organizing the vigil since 2013, when he heard Vietnow was struggling to come up with enough veterans to stand guard in front of the courthouse, 133 W. State St.

“I went to the meeting with the idea of bringing maybe 12 or 15 veteran buddies of mine, and we’d supplement their roster because they were having trouble coming up with enough vigil guards and they decided they weren’t going to do it anymore,” Adkins said.

In the 10 years since, Adkins has been instrumental in the organization and planning of the annual event.

While he said 41 veterans signed up to stand guard at the vigil, there are still some time slots open. He said veterans who’d like to participate can go to a trailer parked on the corner of State and Maple Streets in downtown Sycamore to find out what time slots they can fill.

Adkins said he’s still looking for volunteers for the early morning hours – between 1 and 5 a.m – but if no one steps forward he’s prepared to fill the time slot himself.

“There’s a after-the-graveyard period where they’re [volunteers] not exactly stampeding to come in here and fill those, but you know some people do. Some people are self conscious of the fact they don’t have a uniform, so they choose that. It’s just unfortunate that a couple of them have prior commitments, so otherwise we’d normally fill those slots, Adkins said. “We’ll fill them anyway, there will be a vigil guard out there – if it’s me or somebody else – but there will be, all 24 periods are going to be covered.”

The vigil is always held the Friday and Saturday before Veterans Day so that participants are able to attend their Veterans Day commitments.

And, although the vigil is held ahead of Veterans Day, Adkins stressed it’s a standalone event. Veterans Day is for honoring living veterans, Memorial Day is for honoring fallen veterans and the vigil in Sycamore is for veterans to thank veterans for each other’s service, Adkins said.

“It’s a very solemn feeling to be out there at 3 in the morning, a car or two goes by in that [time slot], maybe one person walks by, maybe not. It’s just a solemn, patriotic feeling doing a watch when nobody’s around, but it’s also nice when people are around.”

—  Frank Beierlotzer

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US Army Veteran John Tuttle (left) and US Navy veteran Charles Slater stand watch Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, during the first hour of the DeKalb County 24-Hour Veterans Vigil at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore. The vigil starts at 3 p.m. Friday and will conclude at 3 p.m. Saturday and at least one veteran will stand watch each hour of the vigil. (Mark Busch)

Adkins planned on staying near the vigil all of Friday night, but he wasn’t alone.

David Larson, a Marines veteran who served from 1975 to 1979, said a group of vigil supporters stood with the veterans at various times throughout the 24-hour vigil.

“We have a group called vigil supporters, and that seems to be catching on nicely. We’ve had some people that have, you know, a son, a daughter, a grandson. In fact, this year Dwain has some ceremonial junior cadet rifles – they’re not really rifles, but they’re smaller versions – and I really think its a wonderful thing to encourage that patriotism to be outside of the family and extend to the children and grandchildren,” Larson said.

Larson said he thinks the early morning vigil shifts are a nice time for personal reflection. Adkins said the shifts remind him of standing guard in the Army – except those were four-hour shifts.

“It’s really a kind of serene thing. You look around, and there’s a little bit of traffic going by on State Street, the flags are snapping,” Adkins said.

Frank Beierlotzer, a local veteran organizer who will lead a closing ceremony outside of the courthouse at 3 p.m. Saturday, said he thinks the early morning shifts have a bit of peace and tranquility to them.

“It’s a very solemn feeling to be out there at 3 in the morning, a car or two goes by in that [time slot], maybe one person walks by, maybe not. It’s just a solemn, patriotic feeling doing a watch when nobody’s around, but it’s also nice when people are around,” Beierlotzer said.

Barring an unforeseen rush of veteran volunteers, Adkins expected to stand vigil at least one hour early Saturday morning, but he says he planned to use that time to consider his blessings in the United States.

“It’s a time to reflect that I live in the greatest country in the world,” Adkins said. “There’s things taking place that I don’t like but this is still – anybody that’s lived in a third world country for any length of time, there’s nothing, there’s not a whole lot that you can complain about in this country.”