Lorenzo A. Fiorentino (Ret.) will offer a lively AV presentation about the military monuments of Illinois at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 22, at the Italian American Veterans Museum. A retired Army Major with a lifelong interest in military history, Fiorentino watched for decades as Illinois’ military monuments faded into obscurity and fell into disrepair.

In January of 2018, he decided to do something about it.  Traveling the length and breadth of the state to research and photograph these stirring acts of devotion, he assembled the material into a book that was published in the summer of 2019. “It truly was a labor of love,” Fiorentino says. A richly illustrated 128-page volume, “Illinois Military Monuments” celebrates 85 of our state’s many moving military tributes.