Spirit of '45-- Part 2: A Big Band and A Prisoner

After the ceremonies, the Lake Area Swing Band played 1940s-style swing and Big Band music.

Bob and Helen Tittle of McHenry have been married for 67 years. Bob, 89, served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

I have heard this band many times at the Fox Lake American Legion and Dog 'N Suds. With their male and female singer and sixteen pieces, this is as close as you can get to that kind of music.

Forty World War II veterans were recognized. One was Tony Gargano, 93, of my home town, Spring Grove, who was a POW for four years. He had been a Navy petty officer and remembers while in prison, all he had to eat every day was 5.5 ounces of rice and 8 ounces of tea to drink. He had to sleep on the floor. I imagine he was captured in the early fighting in the Pacific, perhaps the Philippines or Wake Island.

I'll Be Back Next Year. --GreGen