Yorkville’s Chapel on the Green hosts tribute to community’s veterans

Six years before the first cannon fire of the Civil War, the last piece of timber harvested from the Fox River completed Yorkville’s Chapel on the Green, the oldest church in the county. Honoring Veterans Day, service members gathered in the Chapel once again to commemorate guns fallen silent and lives dedicated to service, through the cathartic act of sharing one’s own story.

Susan Kritzberg, president of the Chapel, said providing a ceremony for veterans to share their stories is more than just honoring their service, it’s recognizing that their lives represent the fabric of their community. She said Carol Sheeley’s tremendous work organizing the 12th annual event helped turn the Nov. 10 ceremony into a transcending platform for veteran’s voices to reach the community.

“My dad served in World War II, last year I bought a brick over in the city park to memorialize his service, those veterans often don’t speak about their experiences,” Kritzberg said. “With this opportunity, veterans can share what they need to share. Some have experienced hardships others can’t comprehend, so it’s very humbling, and often emotional, hearing their experiences.”

With every pew of the Chapel filled with community members, both young and old, the speaking veterans used the opportunity to shed light on unique perspectives of military service often overlooked when people salute the armed forces.

Paul Burd, who served in the Coast Guard from 1972-1976, said he volunteered to speak because very few in the community are aware of the responsibilities his branch of the military carries.

“They’ve been involved in every war our country has, even now, they’re over helping in the Middle East,” Burd said. “They’re protecting lives and property, enforcing federal laws and international treaties, and even conducting oceanic research on underwater currents and temperatures.”

Burd said this dedication to service attracted him to join the Coast Guard. Following boot camp in New Jersey, he was stationed in North Carolina, then Virginia, then flipping oceans over to Seattle. He served as a photojournalist, helping provide documentation to improve efficiency for their services.

Burd described the Coast Guard’s duties as a blend between a federal law enforcement agency and a military unit. When the Navy is tasked with drug enforcement along the coasts, Burd said Coast Guard boarding teams join because they are the ones carrying legal authority to conduct enforcement raids.

“Regardless of which branch, the act of service is incredibly important,” Burd said. “Everybody who’s been in the military learns the values of discipline and service. You carry those values with you the rest of your lives.”

Providing a testament to those values, Carol Ginger Schultz, who simultaneously served as a nurse in the Air Force Reserves from 1978-1986 and an emergency room nurse for three decades, shared her experiences of service in the same Chapel where she was married.

“My service has made me more in-tune to anyone else who is involved in the military and being aware of what they might be going through,” Schultz said. “When you hear a community band honor military veterans, you feel pride standing up, it doesn’t matter what branch you were in, it matters that you served.”

Schultz said her life of service follows in the footsteps or her father who was a World War II veteran who landed at Normandy two days after the D-Day invasion. She said he seldom talked about his experiences but knew they weighed on him. Schultz said representing a woman’s perspective of service is a great pride to her.

“It’s an awesome responsibility, I’m not a female veteran, I’m just a veteran,” Schultz said. “Everybody across society needs to do their part. People need to become involved in public service. It would be nice to see some sort of mandatory public service or conscription.”

Wayne Johnson, who was stationed in Korea with the Army from 1969-1971, followed speakers sharing their diverse service experiences from the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, the Coast Guard, and the Reserves. He said he tries to reflect on his period of service, during the height of the Vietnam War, with a sense of humor to humanize the great pressures so many young service members were put under.

“I enjoy hearing everyone’s stories, but when I tell mine, I like to point out the more humorous things that happened, there’s always tragedies, but I try to find the good and the humor along with them,” Johnson said.

Johnson served as a personnel management specialist in Seoul. He said the cultural experience transformed the way he saw the world.

“Traveling overseas provided me a greater appreciated for how citizens live in other countries,” Johnson said. “Experiencing life in Seoul, I was able to compare it to Chicago. It makes you appreciate your own home in a different way.”

Johnson said there’s a lot he hopes the younger generation takes away from the stories the veterans shared during the Chapel’s event.

“I hope it instills a sense of appreciation for what their fathers and grandfathers have gone through to be able to provide them good lives and to enjoy the freedoms we all share.”