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Remembering the Our Lady of the Angels school fire 60 years later

It has been 60 years, but Serge Uccetta remembers Dec. 1, 1958 like it happened recently. That’s the day fire engulfed his elementary school, Our Lady of the Angels near Hamlin and Chicago avenues, taking the lives of 95 people — 92 students and three women religious.
Members of the Royal-Airs marching drum and bugle corps participate in a Dec. 2, 2018, ceremony at Queen of Heaven Cemetery to remember 92 students and three women religious killed in the Dec. 1, 1958 fire at Our Lady of the Angels School. (Natalie Battaglia/Chicago Catholic)
Five-year old twins Lia, left, and Emma Stachon join in a Dec. 2, 2018, memorial service at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside to remember the victims of the Our Lady of the Angels fire. (Natalie Battaglia/Chicago Catholic)
Serge Uccetta, fire survivor and former drum major from the Royal-Airs drum and bugle corps, delivers a brief eulogy and during a Dec. 2, 2018, memorial service at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside for the victims of the Dec. 1, 1958, fire at Our Lady of the Angels School. (Natalie Battaglia/Chicago Catholic)
A crowd gathers to listen to the Royal-Airs drum and bugle corps Dec. 2, 2018, at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside. (Chicago Catholic/Natalie Battaglia)
Members of the Royal-Airs marching drum and bugle corps participate in a Dec. 2, 2018, ceremony at Queen of Heaven Cemetery to remember 92 students and three women religious killed in the Dec. 1, 1958 fire at Our Lady of the Angels School. (Natalie Battaglia/Chicago Catholic)
Members of the Royal-Airs marching drum and bugle corps participate in a Dec. 2, 2018, ceremony at Queen of Heaven Cemetery to remember 92 students and three women religious killed in the Dec. 1, 1958 fire at Our Lady of the Angels School. (Natalie Battaglia/Chicago Catholic)
Serge Uccetta, fire survivor and former drum major of Royal-Airs marching drum and bugle corps, conducts the corps Dec. 2, 2018 at Queen of Angels Cemetery in Hillside. (Chicago Catholic/Natalie Battaglia)
Tom Day salutes after playing "Taps" during a Dec. 2, 2018, memorial service for the Our Lady of the Angels fire victims at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside. (Chicago Catholic/Natalie Battaglia)
Angela Imbrogno, left, and Patty DeGraco hold a flag that honors 92 students and three women religious killed by the Dec. 1, 1958, fire at Our Lady of the Angels School during a Dec. 2, 2018, memorial service at Queen of Heaven Cemetery. Angela Imbrogno was in fifth grade at the time of the fire. (Chicago Catholic/Natalie Battaglia)
Loved ones still decorated the grave of Margaret Sansonetti, a 10-year-old fifth-grader the day of the fire. (Chicago Catholic/Natalie Battaglia)

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