Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Veterans were the focus Sunday at the Illinois State Fair, as it was Veterans Day on the fairgrounds.  Veterans Day is always the first Sunday of the fair.

Assistant Adjutant General of the Illinois National Guard, Daniel McDonough, says it’s important to honor veterans every chance we get.

“Some of you returned from Vietnam, and were not treated the way that you should have been.  I will tell you that the pendulum has swung as far as it could possibly swing the other way,” said McDonough.  “If I’m wearing my uniform and I go to buy a soda, I rarely ever get to buy those.  Somebody buys it for us.  I think that’s just the nation responding to the fact that they didn’t get it right about 50 years ago.”

Through his department, Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello says there’s at least one program of which veterans can take advantage.

“One of the challenges of military service is transitioning back from active duty to civilian life.  That’s why I am especially proud of our ‘Homegrown by Heroes’ program, which enables them to use a special logo on ag products sold to the public in this state.”

Costello is an Army veteran of the Gulf War, serving in the 82nd Airborne.

Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs director Terry Prince said the department’s finally ready to turn the page on the problems plaguing the department the last several years.

“We’re most proud of what we’re doing at our nursing homes.  We call them veterans’ homes,” said Prince.  “The State of Illinois and the federal government spent over $500 million rebuilding the Chicago Veterans Home — and, soon to open this fall, the Quincy [Veterans] Home, which will replace a building that was built in 1886.”

Quincy had a deadly legionella outbreak. La Salle lost residents to COVID.