Thank you ...

There will be no shortage of cookouts, block parties and get-togethers today. Flags will be waved, parades walked and fireworks launched.

But for many others, this weekend is a time for reflection – on the days they became “property of the U.S. Military,” the days they left their families not knowing whether they would come home, or when others watched their loved ones leave home, carrying with them a sense of uncertainty.

Robert Kastner spent his 17th birthday in a Navy recruiting office.

“My father had to come sign for me,” said Kastner, 81.

He said World War II wasn’t about politics.

“We were fighting to survive, and help other people survive the atrocities,” said Kastner, of Johnsburg. “It was the right thing to do.”

Kastner spent 42 months aboard ships, transporting troops and cargo between the States and Guam. When he was discharged, he joined the Illinois National Guard. He served during the Cold War until 1952.

Many of his fellow servicemen and women still are so deeply affected by their experience that they don’t attend Memorial Day services. They don’t talk about their military time.

Not Kaster.

“I get a certain amount of satisfaction being in the service,” he said.

• • •

The Silver Star is the third-highest military decoration that servicemen can be awarded. It’s a decoration of valor, and bravery, in the face of an enemy.

Decades after Elmer “Si” Meyers was awarded the Silver Star, he still is humble about it.

“I was surprised. I didn’t expect to get it,” said Meyers, of Johnsburg. In fact, it was his parents who broke news of the award to 85-year-old Meyers.

Meyers was stationed in Altavilla, Italy, when his camp was hit by an enemy counter-battery fire in World War II.

Enemy troops hit an ammunition pit. It was burning, and exploding. But Meyers saw fellow troops wounded in a gun pit, so he ran to them.

News accounts of Meyers’ bravery said he administered first aid and made arrangements to evacuate the wounded. He thought to save another before himself.

But Meyers doesn’t see it that way.

“You don’t think. You go by instinct,” he said.

• • •

Mike Varga was a freshman in high school when he decided to join the Army.

“I met my friend’s older brother, who was a Ranger,” said Varga, 24. “Ever since that point, I knew.”

In 2001 he watched Americans reel after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It reinforced his desire to serve, and protect democracy.

In 2003 he headed to Iraq. He would be there for two tours, training Iraqi border patrol. In 2005, he came home. And now four years later, he’ll spend his Memorial Day with other members of the Johnsburg VFW as they dedicate a new brick memorial.

“It’s something that’s permanent, and it’s a fixture that will be around here for a while,” he said. “That’s not something that’s in the forefront of everyone’s mind every day.”

• • •

Servicemen see horrendous things. One minute all is calm, the next minute they’re escaping death.

But during the calm moments, it’s OK to smile, to enjoy. That’s what Lloyd Freund tried to help others do.

At 17 he joined the Army.

“There was a group of us that had just graduated,” said Freund, 80. He completed basic training and spent the first three months guarding supplies during the occupation of Japan. Then he began playing ball.

He traveled southern islands of Japan playing baseball and football against other American troops, hoping it would bring smiles during an otherwise dismal time.

“I think they did [enjoy] it,” said Freund, of Johnsburg. “It probably gave them something to laugh about.”

• • •

Military service wasn’t a popular option in 1975, Dennis Hall said.

“A lot of people ... were wearing their hair long. I had long hair, down to my shoulders,” he said.

But Hall dreamed of flying, and during college at Embry-Riddle he discovered that military service would get him in a cockpit quickly.

“The Navy was the fastest vehicle to get me in a jet right after college,” he said.

So he enlisted.

Hall, of unincorporated McHenry, said he grew up very familiar with the Iron Curtain. The idea of a communist threat stayed with him throughout his 21 years of military service, and was on the forefront of his mind when he served in Operation Just Cause during the U.S. invasion of Panama.

“I feel my part was being part of the military machine,” said Hall, 58. “Military in general, that helped defeat the communists in the Cold War.”

When the U.S. successfully ousted Panama’s dictator, Manuel Noriega, Hall was thrilled.

“To go after that guy, yes, I took a lot of pleasure in that.”