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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Bikers’ mission is to ‘Never Forget’ POWs/MIAs

OFF THE WIRE
The 10th annual "Never Forget" Thunder Run and Toys-For-Tots Parade will be held on Sunday, Oct. 9, at the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago

Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the Never Forget Thunder Motorcycle Run starting at James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago and ending at the VFW in Lake Villa for raffles, fun and food.

“Rolling Thunder’s core mission is to remind citizens of America and our government that we have more than 80,000 service men and women who never returned home from war,” said Wayne Kirkpatrick, board chairman and charter member of Chapter 2 Illinois Rolling Thunder. “We have members who are non-veterans, as well as veterans, of different armed services. We are a cross-section of patriotic Americans.”

Kirkpatrick said the number of missing military is based on Department of Defense figures dating back to World War II. “Every war, we get better at accounting. Our purpose is to keep the pressure on our government to continue to search for our missing military. It’s a terrible tragedy.”

Chapter 2 is part of a nationwide organization that gathers every year on Memorial Day weekend in the parking lot of the Pentagon. “We have between 300,000 and 500,000 motorcycles that parade down Constitution Avenue. The streets are packed with spectators. Washington, D.C., is virtually shut down for this parade.”

The local ride fits into the purpose of raising awareness about military MIAs. “We aren’t doing a traditional run, rather it’s a parade through the northwest suburbs,” explained Kirkpatrick. “We lead the parade with the American flag and 10 POW/MIA flags mounted on motorcycles to remind local communities that we still have many folks who have not yet returned from battlefields.”

“We are joined by local police and fire departments, Marine Corps Reserve and people in vehicles and many other motorcyclists along the route that covers about 70 miles.”

The event that costs $20 per rider and $15 per passenger also requires a donation of a new toy for the annual Marine Corp Reserves’ Toys for Tots program. The majority of registration money is donated to the Lovell Federal Health Care Center to pay for newspaper subscriptions for veterans at the facility. “Our donation usually pays for subscriptions to cover three wards of patients at the hospital for a year,” said Kirkpatrick.

Registration for the ride is from 9 to 11 a.m. in the health care center parking lot south of Buckley Road and east of Green Bay Road. The ride begins at noon with the after-party from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Lake Villa VFW, 130 W. Grand Ave. A blood drive by Heartland Blood Center to donate to Lovell Federal Health Care patients will be held during the event.

http://newssun.suntimes.com/news/8031146-418/bikers-mission-is-to-never-forget-powsmias.html