Olley program honors vets, calls attention to PTSD

KANKAKEE — It was a program designed to both honor veterans and to call attention to the problems many of them face. Saturday, a Women of War presentation celebrated Veterans Day weekend. The event took place near the Ray Olley statue in front of A.

N. Webber, 2150 U.S.



Route 45, Kankakee. Trina Parks, one of three guest speakers at the event, had been honored by President Barack Obama with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her service to veterans. A new mental health center in Atlanta is being named for her.

Her father was a World War II vet, serving in the U.S. Navy and also in the Army Reserve.

She held up his uniform blouse for the crowd inside a tent on a gray overcast day. She also had a cousin who was killed in action in Vietnam. Parks said that an average of 22 veterans commit suicide each day, troubled by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The mental health center will hopefully address that issue, where, she said, veterans will be able to get immediate help, without waiting for any qualification or approval. Parks said the country “could not thank veterans enough for their service.” Parks has been active with the Ray Olley project.

The memorial shows the late Olley, a Kankakee County World War II Navy vet, but it is intended to call attention to the problem of PTSD. Saturday’s event was the second annual Veterans Day observance at the memorial. The program also discussed the role of women in the Armed Forces.

Parks said that WACS, the Women’s Army Corps, started in World War II. Eventually 150,000 would serve. Annika Bennion is one of the faces of the Ray Olley project, appearing as an updated Annika the Riveter, in a poster mimicking World War II’s famed artwork.

Bennion is the granddaughter of a Vietnam vet and related to Captain Mervyn Bennion, who died at Pearl Harbor and was awarded the Medal of Honor. Bennion said that of the countries of the world, the United States is among the one-third that allow women to serve in combat roles. She also noted the achievement of Dr.

Mary Walker. Walker received the Medal of Honor for her care for Union soldiers during the Civil War. To date, she is the only woman to earn the award.

Today, both a quarter and a U.S. Fort bear her name.

“Individual actions make a difference,” Bennion said, referring to the impact of Walker’s life. Ivy Stampley is both a retired U.S.

Army major and earned doctorate. She addressed the audience on a subject she said she knew best — her life. As a little girl, she said, she was always interested in the service.

Other members of her family had been in the Air Force, the Army and the Marines. She went to college, but some financial struggles forced a change. She enlisted.

At each level, she learned, she worked hard, she exceeded expectations and she got promoted. She was, she says, a “smarty-pants.” Eventually she was offered a slot in Officer’s Candidate School.

She rose through those ranks, too. With the Army paying for her education, she earned bachelor’s, master’s and a doctorate. Her assignment now, in retirement, is to teach and head the Junior ROTC program at Kankakee High School.

Because she has her degrees, she can tell the students she practices what she preaches. Parks is best known as the first African-American woman to be a “Bond Girl.” She appeared as “Thumper” in “Diamonds are Forever.

” Bennion was a Miss Montana Teen. A busload of veterans from the Illinois Veterans Home at Manteno attended. A Kankakee fire truck displayed a giant American flag, waving from the top of its ladder.

Motorcyclists concluded the program by gunning their engines in what is called the “30-second American Revolution.” The Ray Olley project was led by Jojo Sayson. People can still participate by purchasing a brick to honor a veteran.

The bricks surround the elevated statue of Olley and his dog Elinore. For information, go to rayolleymemorial.com .

Matt Yaeger and the musical group Soothe offered entertainment. “Taps” was sounded by bugler Nick Venuso. There were welcoming remarks by Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis.

“Monuments,” he said, “help teach us about history.” He thanked the many veterans in attendance for giving us the freedom “to be here today.”.