April 25, 2025
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Register now for John Whiteside Memorial Golf Outing

Benefits Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Memorial Squad

By Denise M. Baran-Unland
The ALNC Memorial Squad does a 21-gun salute at the National Cemetery Administration 50th Anniversary ceremony at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood on Saturday, July 29.

The ALNC Memorial Squad does a 21-gun salute at the National Cemetery Administration 50th Anniversary ceremony at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood on Saturday, July 29. (Gary Middendorf – gmiddendorf@shawmedia/Gary Middendorf)

Registration for the 2025 John Whiteside Memorial Golf Outing at Inwood Golf Course in Joliet is now open.

The fundraiser will take place June 25. A buffet dinner with cash bar will follow at D’Amore Banquet Hall, 113 Republic Ave. in Joliet.

Tickets for golf and dinner are $165. Tickets for dinner only are $40.

Sponsorships also are available.

Proceeds benefit the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Memorial Squad.

Since 2003, the memorial squad has provided honorably discharged veterans a military ceremonial burial service at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood at no charge for families who request it, Sharon Eck, coordinator of the golf outing and volunteer member of the memorial squad since 2016, said in 2023.

Members of the Department of Veterans Affairs Memorial Squad sit in the shade before presenting the flags for the 23rd annual Memorial Day ceremony in 2022 at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood. (Gary Middendorf - gmiddendorf@shawnedia.com/Gary Middendorf)

Regardless of weather, military honors are rendered from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. each day, according to the the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Memorial Squad website.

The ceremony includes a three-volley rifle salute, Eck previously said.

“We have a live bugler who plays taps. It’s not recorded,” Eck previously said. “We do the folding and the presentation of the American flag, and we present it to the next of kin. So it’s a full service.”

In 2001, former U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller and Herald-News columnist John Whiteside – who died in 2005 at age 61 and is buried at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery – coordinated with the director and staff at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery to form the memorial squad.

An old newspaper photo of Herald-News reporter John Whiteside. Writing stories and columns for the paper for 34 years, Whiteside frequently preferred to work at Joliet restaurants.

An old newspaper photo of Herald-News reporter John Whiteside. Writing stories and columns for the paper for 34 years, Whiteside frequently preferred to work at Joliet restaurants. (Shaw Local News Network)

The squad was inaugurated Aug. 26, 2003, performed its first service Sept. 9, 2003, and held its first golf outing in 2005, according to the website.

Whiteside, an Air Force veteran, came to The Herald-News as a reporter in 1971. He wrote three columns a week for almost 25 years, which featured local heroes, military history and his own cancer battle.

In 2019, The Herald-News honored Army veteran and memorial squad member Michael Johnson of Joliet.

Eck previously said membership in the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Memorial Squad is open to veterans and nonveterans.

For information on the golf outing, call Eck at 815-600-2955 or visit abrahamlincolnmemorialsquad.org.

For more information about the memorial squad, call 815-474-0321 or visit abrahamlincolnmemorialsquad.org.

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