Retired sergeant major urges Orland Park to ‘speak names’ at Memorial Day ceremony

ORLAND PARK, Ill. — Retired U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Major Daniel Miller urged a crowd gathered for Orland Park’s annual Memorial Day ceremony to keep the names of the fallen alive, saying that spoken remembrance is how the community ensures veterans are never forgotten.

“'You are never truly forgotten until your name is spoken for the final time,'” Miller said in his keynote address, recounting combat service in Iraq, losses in his unit and later struggles some veterans faced with suicide and post-traumatic stress. Miller also described his work with Canines for Veterans to help service members and first responders cope with PTSD.

The remarks opened a program that included the Pledge of Allegiance, an invocation by Father Ed of Our Lady of the Woods Parish, music from the Orland Park Children’s Choir and the reading of newly engraved names by Mayor Jim Dodge. During his remarks, Dodge reflected on the national meaning of Memorial Day in the 250th year since the nation’s founding and asked families to stand as he announced names to be added to memorial panels.

Dan Marcin, who identified himself as a Navy veteran and the village veterans program coordinator, opened and closed the ceremony and highlighted upcoming veteran-focused events, including a Veterans Liberty Run on July 3, a Mayor’s Veterans Golf Classic (fundraiser) at Silver Lake Country Club and a Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 11. Marcin also outlined the Hometown Hero banner program — he said 54 banners had been posted along Ravinia to 159th Street and that certificates for newly engraved names would be available after Veterans Day — and pointed attendees to the village veterans webpage (orlandpark.org/veterans) for information.

Miller told personal stories of unit members he lost in combat and of colleagues who later died by suicide, saying those losses underscore the need for public remembrance and support. He urged attendees to say names aloud: “Do not ever forget their name,” he said, describing saying a name as a way of keeping someone present.

Organizers asked standing veterans to render honors and invited members of American Legion Orland Memorial Post 111, Veterans Voices Military Group and VFW Reber Tasman Post 2604 to post colors and salute. The children’s choir performed a medley of service-branch songs and a wreath presentation was announced and conducted as part of the program.

The ceremony included readings that the program identified as originating with early Memorial Day observances (the first recognized observance on May 30, 1868, and later federal changes in 1968 and 1971), which speakers cited to explain how the holiday’s purpose is remembrance rather than celebration.

Marcin closed by inviting attendees to refreshments at the civic center and thanking Parks and Recreation and volunteers for organizing the event.

The village did not announce any formal municipal actions or policy decisions at the ceremony.