Naperville Responds for Veterans (NRFV) held its annual Strength and Honor Luncheon recently as way to honor and give thanks to veterans.
Featured Speaker
This year’s featured speaker was U.S. Navy Air Reserve veteran Jeffrey Veesenmeyer who served six years in Photographic Air Intelligence PT2/c at Glenview Naval Air Station in Illinois. Veesenmeyer has published three WWII Navy books. His first book, Kamikaze Destroyer, was a result of research of his family’s history and his uncle who fought and was killed on the USS Hadley. “Kamikaze Terror” continues the story, and his third book, “Jack Clifton’s WWII Memoir” uses a secret diary to tell the Clifton family story. He grew up in the Chicago area and now lives with his wife near Madison, Wisconsin.
Naval Veteran Herschel Luckinbill
Luckinbill Remembered
The luncheon also honored Fox Valley veteran Herschel Luckinbill who passed away this summer. Luckinbill was a machinist in the Navy during the Vietnam War and returned to the area after service. According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, Luckinbill brought the Vietnam Moving Wall to Aurora in 2013 and to Oswego in 2017. He was also a strong supporter of Honor Flight Chicago, raising $50,000 to sponsor veterans to fly to Washington, D.C.
The Choristers of Marmion Academy welcomed visitors and sang the National Anthem followed by opening remarks from Naperville Responds for Veterans President Dan Jurjovec.
Serving Veterans
Naperville Responds for Veterans assists veterans and their families in need, especially those of low and moderate income, by raising donations of money, building materials, and professional labor, and coordinating the process of repairing, building and donating homes.
NRFV presented the inaugural Naperville Salute this past Fourth of July weekend. The Salute blended community, local entertainment, food and family fun.
