‘It humbles you a little bit:’ DeKalb veteran driven by serving fellow servicemen and women

DeKALB – Many people will say they have a calling in life, but fewer can claim to have a call of duty in life.

DeKalb resident and U.S. Air Force veteran Michael Embrey has both going for him.

He said the reason he first became involved in helping the local veterans community is easy to pinpoint.

“When you first get out of the service, you want to forget about it as most young service members do,” Embrey said, adding that age has allowed him to reflect on how he gives him time. “You want to make sure these young people have the same respect and honor that they deserve coming out of the service. It humbles you a little bit when you think not only of what you’ve done but those before you. In my case, my father, my uncles.”

Embrey, a Missouri native, Northern Illinois University graduate and retired NIU marching band director, was recently bestowed with the 2022 national and state Americanism awards for his service to veterans in the community.

Embrey said that being indebted with these honors mean a great deal to him.

“To receive it was well beyond my comprehension,” Embrey said. “I never went after an award like that, it just happened. It was very humbling to first win the state award, and then be invited to the national [convention,] and being told I was the national Americanism award winner, and to be the keynote speaker at their convention.”

For years, Embrey has been active in the DeKalb area community working to support veterans causes.

Between the Hometown Hero banners in downtown DeKalb and the honorary street naming to the new Veterans Memorial at the DeKalb Elks Lodge, a variety of projects have been become a reality over the years thanks, in part, to Embrey’s efforts.

“We really didn’t have a large memorial in the city of DeKalb or a veterans presence,” he said. “There is a vets club at NIU. They hope to have a veterans club at Kishwaukee College, but we just needed that, I think, thrust to let people know we respect veterans.”

Embrey said it means a lot knowing that veterans are getting the respect they deserve. He said it’s a good change of pace from what some experienced coming out of the Vietnam War.

“We were kind of rejected as being in the military,” Embrey said. “It’s nice that now it’s turned and that now people are respecting those that served their time.”

Embrey touted the recent completion of the Veterans Memorial at the DeKalb Elks Lodge.

“DeKalb really didn’t have any main or large Veterans Memorial other than flags here or there,” Embrey said. “I decided in 2018 that we really wanted to start building a project. I pursued various areas in town, and I finally asked the Elks if we could use their property to build the memorial; they agreed. … They gave us this land that they owned adjacent to their property.”

Embrey lauded the occasion in 2020 when the city of DeKalb and the DeKalb American Legion Post 66 joined forces to dedicate and rename the entrance to Locust Street, from First to Fourth streets, Honorary Veterans Way.

“We have the corner of First and Locust [streets,] which local businessman John Pappas donated service flags,” Embrey said.

Embrey championed efforts to advocate for reserving parking spaces for veterans in downtown DeKalb.

“We’re one, if not the only, one of the few in the state of Illinois or in the Midwest that has reserved parking for veterans in the downtown area,” he said. “That also, I think, excited some of the local businesses. So many of the county buildings, like the banks, all have reserved parking for veterans. It just shows respect.”

As a veteran himself, Embrey said he knows all too well that more could be done to honor veterans for their service.

“It’s ironic that there are four days a year that we think about our veterans: Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July and Veterans Day,” Embrey said. “You don’t just think of them four days a year. It’s the whole year.”

Embrey served as a member of the U.S. Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps from 1967 to 1971.

“My four years’ tour of duty was actually playing music and being a musician arranger for the Air Force,” Embrey said.

Embrey said he’s long had a love for playing music, and it only grew when he joined the Air Force.

“We toured and entertained, but we were all required to play military funerals and a variety of events, from civic events to military funerals,” he said.

Embrey said he’s played taps locally, nationally and internationally.

When asked who’s the most important person he’s ever played taps for, Embrey said the answer is simple.

“My answer is every one of them,” Embrey said. “Because they all did what they had to do. And yes, I’ve played for dignitaries and I’ve played for officers and enlisted men. But every one of them is just as special as the next.”