The Funeral Procession for Lt. Joe Gliniewicz

Yesterday we had the funeral, procession and burial of Lt. Joe Gliniewicz here in western Lake County.  Liz and I saw the procession go by the American Legion Post 703 in Fox Lake, Illinois, where he was a member.

We joined around 100 people in our little section along US-12 (Rand Road).  Thousands lined the 19-mile route from Antioch High School where the funeral took place to Fox Lake where he was a police officer and back to Antioch for his burial.

This was surely one of those things that don't happen very often, thankfully.  All along Grasslake Road and US-12 were heavily decorated with black and blue ribbons and lots of U.S. flags.  I carried a flag.  Plus, there were lots of homemade signs.

We went to the Legion to await the procession and watched the funeral.  The place was packed.  I was surprised to see a friend of mine, the Reverend Lisle Kauffman, get up and speak.  And, the speech Joe's brother gave was one of the saddest I've ever heard.