ALTON - Chad Sibley and Angie Able with Alton VFW Post 1308 discussed their work with the post and their perspectives on Memorial Day and the meaning behind it on a recent episode of Our Daily Show! on Riverbender.com.
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Sibley, who works with the post’s Auxiliary and Rituals Team, said they actually start Memorial Day with a ceremony at Killion Park on the Saturday before Memorial Day. He added they hosted the opening ceremony there last year and will return to host it again this year.
On Sunday, Sibley said the Rituals Team goes to Fosterburg Cemetery to do a ceremony and seven-gun salute, which he described as one of the team’s longest-running events. Then on Memorial Day, they get started early by putting up flags at the post starting at 6:30 a.m., visiting four cemeteries around the city for more ceremonies, then departing for the Memorial Day parade at 10 a.m.
He said it’s “an honor” to still be here to remember his fallen brothers and sisters from the service.
“It’s an honor that I’m able to still be here, even after my conflict and my brothers and sisters in all branches, there’s a lot of them that [aren’t],” he said. “To me, I feel like it’s my duty to remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice.”
Angie said her perspective on Memorial Day changed once her relationship began with Wayne Able, Desert Storm veteran and Alton VFW Post 1308 Commander.
“It goes from being a three-day weekend and barbecue and pools and fun to really remembering - thinking about what it stands for,” Angie said. “Yes, it’s great you get a three-day weekend … but it’s more about thinking about ‘Thank you’ for the ones that didn’t come back.”
Angie said she’s “extremely proud” of the work the VFW post has done, including their Food Pantry, which has helped provide food for people in Kentucky, Mississippi, and even Ukraine.
Sibley added that his involvement in the VFW Post even after his military service stems from a sense of “duty,” and that his family’s military history dates all the way back to the American Revolution.
“It was a feeling inside me that I had that I should carry that on,” he said. “It was my duty and my honor to do that … after the service, I never really found that camaraderie until I got to [Post] 1308, got on the Ritual Team and got involved with the commander.”
The full interview with Sibley and Angie can be watched at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
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