Today is Memorial Day, and we concluded our three-day World War II re-enactment. Things were off to a slow start due to the thunderstorm that passed through early in the morning.
At 1 PM there was a memorial service in front of the War Memorial, led by a WWII chaplain. It was quite moving. An Army chaplain spoke, then his son recited the life story of a soldier who died in France, followed by a 21-gun salute and the playing of "Taps." This really makes it all worthwhile.
The 308 and 309 were running again, of course, and everything went well. As seen at right, Dan Buck was the motorman, Jeff Kepka the trainman, and I was the conductor. I hadn't met Jeff before; he's the brother of Greg Kepka.
Everybody seemed to be having a good time. The West End Jazz Band was playing at the Pavilion.
These pictures explain themselves, I think. Everybody was glad to see the Zephyr out.
Most of our trips were pretty full. We didn't have any military detachments today, but we did have a family of Italian refugees riding the CA&E. They must have really been lost!
And it always helps to have some pretty girls!!!
In other news, Jim Followell painted the south side of the 319 with the grey paint yesterday. (R) If you look closely, you can see my reflection in the new paint.
"we did have a family of Italian refugees riding the CA&E. They must have really been lost!"
ReplyDeleteWell, there WAS a big Italian community out on Chicago's West Side once....
OK, maybe that didn't come out right. Of course what you say is true. There were Italians in Batavia; I had an uncle who was Italian-American. His father fought in the Italian Army in WWI against the Austrians in the Alps, and was wounded. He had some interesting stories to tell.
ReplyDeleteI'm really hoping that you, or someone pulled out the old Vaudville line of "Helloooo Nurse!"
ReplyDelete