The city held its official Veterans Day ceremony last Tuesday at the new Soldier Field. It was, city officials proclaimed, a twofer event–a chance to honor vets, and a chance to show off the war memorials that were part of the $680-million project. “Before, Soldier Field was just a name,” 11th Ward alderman James Balcer, a Vietnam vet, told reporters that day. “Now, it’s a memorial to the men and women who have served our nation.”
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Barry Romo, who served in the infantry in Vietnam, didn’t attend that ceremony. He and about 50 of his friends, fellow veterans, and allies held their annual Veterans Day ceremony where they have for two decades–at the intersection of Wabash and Wacker. Not the precise location of the previous ceremonies–Heald Square, the pedestrian island in the middle of Wacker just west of Wabash–because it’s now gone.
Then in 2001 the city removed the fountain and Taft’s statue as part of the Wacker reconstruction project. When the project was finished earlier this year Heald Square had been paved over, and Taft’s statue had been installed on the northwest corner of Wabash and Wacker next to the bridge. But the Vietnam veterans’ memorial fountain wasn’t reinstalled anywhere.
Taft statue, linking hands like Washington, Salomon, and Morris. Then they packed up their sound system. “We’ll be back next year,” Romo said. “Let’s hope the city finds our fountain by then.”
