SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (KWQC) – Workers who lost their lives in Illinois were honored during a ceremony Monday morning.

Union members placed roses in honor of fallen laborers at the base of a replica workers’ memorial monument.

Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs reflected on his father, as a truck driver, getting into a wreck near a train track and barely escaping before a train hit.

His father’s jaw was wired shut during Thanksgiving.

“I remember him eating his Thanksgiving meal through a straw,” Frerichs said. “It was tough, broke a rib, lost his gallbladder, were a lot of complications, but we were lucky. He eventually did make it back home from the hospital, too many people don’t because of neglect.“

He said the wreck was caused by a lack of cleanup and signage around railroad construction, which highlights the need for persistence in workplace safety regulations.

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