On May 5, 1868, General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued the official proclamation establishing Memorial Day, which was observed for the first time on May 30 of that same year by the placing of flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  

Remembering with gratitude those who have died in the course of military service to our country is a duty we owe to those honored dead, a duty that we should always diligently and gratefully undertake.  But we have a similar duty to the honored living – those who have provided military service to our country and returned home alive but seriously broken in body or in spirit.

Because of the dramatic improvement in battlefield medical treatment many soldiers who would have died from their wounds are surviving, but with substantial deficits and impairments that make their return to a productive civilian life difficult, expensive and uncertain.  Whether it be the obvious impairment of missing limbs or the more subtle deficits of Traumatic Brain Injury, government assistance for these men and women tends to be woefully – and in our opinion, shamefully – inadequate.

Fortunately, many private citizens have stepped up to the plate and started a variety of organizations to help.  And one of those organizations has a Park Ridge presence that we are pleased to acknowledge on this Memorial Day: The Wounded Heroes Foundation (“WHF”).

WHF was founded four years ago by a group of military veterans including Park Ridge resident, former Marine officer and Desert Storm veteran Chris Dosev.  WHF’s mission statement succinctly explains what it does for these returning service men and women:

We demonstrate love and support by helping to meet their needs and the needs of their families. We do this by offering physical, emotional and financial support to the Wounded Heroes. Filling in the gaps where needed, our job is paying a missing mortgage payment, purchasing a handicap accessible van, building or remodeling homes, securing a new mortgage at a lower interest rate, assembling and delivering care packages and even providing a recreational trip to enhance a Heroes’ recovery. These efforts are mere gestures compared to their service. We try to Insure their American Dream because they have Ensured ours.

To find out more about WHF, check out its website: www.woundedheroesfund.net. Or contact Chris Dosev at 847.702.5830 or [email protected].