Illinois Rolling Thunder's 34th annual Ride for Freedom drove through Chicago's northern suburbs Sunday morning to draw attention to missing military members and prisoners of war.
Retired army colonel Wayne Kirkpatrick led the group of some 200 motorcycles out of the parking lot at the Lovell Health Care Center. Kirkpatrick, the Rolling Thunder chair, considers it a moral obligation to remember the missing.
"We've had ticker tape parades to bring folks home; those [who] died in battle are escorted home with the full military honors," Kirkpatrick said. "83,000 of them have yet to come home or be welcomed home."
Vietnam veteran Mick Singer was riding weeks after he helped repatriate a World War II Navy veteran to his home in western Illinois.
"Everyone knew who he was," Singer said. "He was buried in the cemetery there in Dallas City. In a lot of the town and the surrounding area, there was a big turnout."
Several members of Rolling Thunder had black POW-MIA flags on their bikes as they rode out for the Ride for Freedom from the Lovell Health Care Center.
Kevin Caulder said his family was able to bury his brother who died in Vietnam, and he understands the desire to bring home the remains of those missing.
Organizers use the ride to keep up public pressure to search for almost 83 thousand missing US service members. This is the second year the ride is being held locally across the country instead of Washington DC.
The 54-mile ride went through small towns on the way to the Hines V.A. Health Center and then Cantigny Park in Wheaton.
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