By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club (FVVBC) Veteran of the Month program started in April 2015. Now renamed the FVVBC Herschel Luckinbill Veteran of the Month, the stories of 77 veterans have been presented. My participation in the program has come to an end because I will
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club named Tom Warner the July Herschel Luckinbill Veteran of the Month. Tom was born July 7, 1947, in Chicago. At age 10, the family moved to Lockport in Will County, where his father, Richard, was a State Trooper. Tom attended Joliet
By John Montesano The April 2022 Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club Herschel Luckinbill Veteran of the Month is Ted Clinnin. Ted was born January 21, 1947 and grew up in Summit, a southwest suburb of Chicago. At Argo High School, he participated in football, cross country, swimming, and tennis. After
The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club Herschel Luckinbill Veteran of the Month February 2022 is Steve Westerlund. He was born February 6, 1949 in Moline, Ill. and lived in Rock Island. At age 10, his father left the family and Steve was raised by his stepfather, a hired hand, who
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club has named Maurie Misner the November 2021 Herschel Luckinbill Veteran of the Month. Maurie was born in Blythe, Calif. March 28, 1944. Later in the year, Maurie’s mom brought him to Aurora. He was graduated from East Aurora High School in
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Breakfast Club Herschel Luckinbill Veteran of the Month for October 2021 is Richard Bee. Rich was born October 15, 1947 in Aurora. His father died of cancer in 1962. Being one of six, he quit school to work and help pay the bills. He
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club Veteran of the Month henceforth will be named the Herschel Luckinbill Veteran of the Month, in memory of the man who was president of the Fox Valley Breakfast Club for 12 years and who was a continual friend and advocate for
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club’s July 2021 Veteran of the Month is Paul Issak. He was born October 17, 1940 in Chicago, was graduated from Sullivan High School in 1958, and briefly attended Wright Junior College in Chicago. He joined the Air Force January 1, 1960.
By John Montesano In January 2020, I departed from the usual Veteran-of-the-Month format to bring attention to the sacrifice our young men and women made in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). It was time to turn our attention to the loss of life
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club named Danny Gutierrez May 2021 Veteran of the Month. He was born in Aurora, May 11, 1949, grew up on the East Side, and was graduated from Roncalli High School in 1967. At age six, Danny started playing guitar and formed
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club named Joe West the April 2021 Veteran of the Month. Joe West was born September 13, 1955 in Aurora and grew up on the East Side of town. He had a good childhood; played sports and did some part-time work at
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club has named David Moore the January Veteran of the Month. David Moore was born January 20, 1944 in Marion, Ala. where he grew up. After graduation from Lincoln High School in 1963, he was drafted into the Army. He was trained
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club named Thomas Butler the December Veteran of the Month. The son of Jim Butler, one of our previous veterans of the month and Aurora resident, Tom was born December 17, 1964 in Philadelphia, Pa.. He grew up in Chicago and Carpentersville.
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club presents Micheal Iwanski, the September Veteran of the Month. Mike was born October 30, 1987 at Naval Air Station Key West (Fla.). His father was in the Navy, who retired in 1992. As a result, by 1993, Mike had lived in
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club named David Luna the August Veteran of the Month. He was born June 6, 1971 in Aurora and grew up on the East Side and attended East Aurora High School. He stopped after two years in June 1987. At age 17,
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club has named Tanya Reyes our July 2020 Veteran of the Month. She was born September 16, 1971 in Aurora where she lived until she entered the U.S. Army. She was graduated from East Aurora High in 1989 and attended Waubonsee Community
By John Montesano The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club has named Jorge Arciniega the June Veteran of the Month. He was born May 8, 1984 in East Los Angeles, Calif.. Except for living in Los Angeles for sixth and seventh grades, he lived with his sisters in Chicago and Chicago
By John Montesano May, marked officially as Military Appreciation Month, is a special month for both those in and out of the military. Not only do we pause on Memorial Day to remember the sacrifice and service of those who gave all, but the month holds several other military anniversaries
By John Montesano In light of the current COVID-19 crisis that we are all going through, I will not present a Veteran of this month. Instead, for those veterans who may need assistance, the following is for them. Veteran Assistance Commissions are county governmental agencies operated by and for veterans.
By John Montesano In keeping with the theme of Middle East Conflicts in which the Memorial Wall will be in Oswego, May 22-31, the Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club has named William “Will” Sutton, the March Veteran of the Month. Will Sutton, born May 24, 1989, lived in Boston, Mass.
