Local National Guard celebrates reunion

PARIS, Ill. (WTHI) - For more than 100 years, the Paris National Guard unit in the Wabash Valley has knitted an Illinois community closer together.

Saturday, they celebrated their special brotherhood for the whole community to see.

The military bond of brotherhood has brought young men and women together since the beginning of the United States. 

But, it was a more literal brotherhood that brought Jim Eveland into the armed forces.

"My older brother, the youngest of the two, he said, 'you know, that's really what you want to do?’ I said I don't know,” Eveland said through chuckles.

In the middle of the 1950s, inspired by his two older brothers, Jim Eveland joined the historic Paris Army National Guard.

"There’s so many conflicts that this unit has been involved in, I can't remember them all off hand, but it started back in 1836,” he said of the unit’s history.

Since it's inception as a militia, the Paris unit has served in almost every U.S. conflict. From forgotten wars like the Spanish American to the modern day battles, the men of Paris have served the nation side-by-side.

It's that very bond of serving that continues to unite them to this day, especially at the Paris National Guard reunion.

"We are trying to get all the Paris National Guard people to come, we've got several coming I'd say probably we'll have around one hundred and ten here today,” Chuck Eveland, Jim’s brother said.

A reunion of brotherhood brought together by brothers.