Crystal Lake Post Office renamed in honor of fallen Marine

The Crystal Lake Post Office at 301 Congress Parkway now is the Ryan J. Cummings Post Office.

A bill signed into law by President Joe Biden at the end of last year renamed the post office after Cummings, a Marine who died at the age of 22 while on duty in Iraq in 2006.

The family lived in Crystal Lake at the time.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, had been working on getting versions of the bill passed in the Senate and House.

Cumming’s father, John, told the Northwest Herald last year that he first met Duckworth several years ago at Abraham Lincoln Cemetery in Elwood, where his son is buried.

Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, pulled out a photo of his son and told him she carries pictures of all the boys in McHenry County who lost their lives in combat.

Casten’s bill was passed in the House on Nov. 14 and then passed the Senate with unanimous approval on Dec. 19. The president signed the bill on Dec. 27.

Biden thanked Casten, Duckworth, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, and the Illinois delegation for their leadership in a White House news release announcing the bill’s passing.

Duckworth said in a statement last March that they had been working on getting the bill passed and give the Cummings family a “well deserved honor.”