White Sox Replace Memorial Item Honoring Fallen Illinois National Guard Soldier

SPRINGFIELD — The Chicago White Sox helped replace a missing memorial item honoring a fallen Illinois Army National Guard soldier during a ceremony March 6 at the Illinois Military Academy on Camp Lincoln. The small White Sox ice cream helmet had been displayed in a memorial case recognizing 34 Illinois National Guard service members who died while serving their country after the September 11 attacks. The item represented a memory shared at a baseball game by Army Sgt. Robert M. Weinger and his mother, Sue King Wieczorek, a Gold Star mother. The team provided a replacement helmet for the memorial display and the Illinois National Guard also presented a shadow box containing Weinger’s medals and awards. Weinger, of Round Lake Beach, served with Company D, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment based in Woodstock and deployed to Afghanistan in 2008. He was killed March 15, 2009 when a military vehicle struck an improvised explosive device near Kot, Afghanistan. The memorial case was recently moved from the Joint Force Headquarters building to the Illinois Military Academy so more soldiers and visitors can view the tribute.