(The following story by Dennis Yohnka appeared on the Kankakee Daily Journal website on March 12, 2009.)
KANKAKEE, Ill. — The Village of Bourbonnais will hold a memorial service at 2 p.m. Sunday to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Amtrak train derailment that killed 11 people and injured 122 others on March 15, 1999.
Bourbonnais Village President Paul Schore said the event will take place at the crash victims’ memorial park at the intersection of Illinois Route 102 and U.S. Route 45. Those attending are asked to use the parking lot at Maternity BVM Church and walk to the corner park.
Schore said the service will be completed in less than 30 minutes. Attendees will then be invited back to the Maternity school gym where coffee will be served.
A number of survivors have made plans to return for the service. Mickey Piette, a Chicagoan who was pulled from the wreckage with minor injuries, said she and other survivors are looking forward to the opportunity to thank all of the volunteers who helped them.
She said she is especially eager to see the steel workers who ran to the scene at McKnight Road from what was then the Birmingham Steel Plant, now the Nucor Corp. plant.