More than 1,800 motorcyclists showed up Sunday for a Wounded Warrior Motorcycle Run where five local veterans were honored and money was raised for the cause of supporting injured soldiers across the country.
“A lot of bikes here,” said Bill Teckenbrock of Naperville, surveying the motorcycles lined up in the morning in New Lenox Commons. Shortly after noon, the hundreds of motorcycles rumbled off to Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.
The ride was preceded by a ceremony in which checks of $1,000 were presented to five area veterans, three of whom are in wheelchairs.
But just the presence of so many people in support of soldiers wounded in war and in peacetime meant much to the soldiers and their families at the Wounded Warrior event.
“It helps a lot,” said Aimee Zmysly, of Oak Lawn, whose husband Yuriy was one of the local veterans honored at the ceremony. Yuriy, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is confined to a wheelchair and cannot speak after suffering brain injuries because a breathing tube was removed erroneously while he was recovering from an appendectomy at a military base hospital after returning from war.
Speaking for her husband, Aimee said the sight of so many people for the veterans’ cause “definitely boosts his morale. He can see how many people support him and his brothers.”
“Thank you so much — everyone — for your support,” Josue Cordova, of Mokena, told the crowd during the ceremony.
Cordova is an Air Force veteran who was injured in a 1995 vehicle accident, uses a wheelchair and is active in Paralyzed Veterans of America.
“We are proud to serve our country. We are proud to be veterans,” Cordova said. “If the Lord put me on my feet today, I’d be honored to be back at the front gate and ready to serve again.”
Wounded Warriors Motorcycle Run I-80 Marseilles,IL 2010
YouTube Uploaded by ##### on Sep 3, 2010
Other local veterans and service members honored at the ceremony were Tim Lindgren, of Homer Glen, Brad Hojek, of Oak Lawn, and Sgt. Dominic Bender, of Barrington.
Mike Cozzi, of Crestwood, one of the organizers of the Wounded Warrior event, said money for the local veterans was raised beforehand through T-shirt sales and fundraisers at supermarkets, as well as support from Chi-Town Harley-Davidson in Tinley Park and the Mokena Mayor’s Charity Foundation.
Proceeds from Sunday’s event would go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a national organization devoted to supporting injured members of the military service and raising awareness of their needs.
“We are extremely blessed to have this type of support from numerous motorcycle clubs — both veterans and non-veterans,” Cozzi said.
Jim Ammirati, of Frankfort, a Vietnam era veteran who was riding in the run, said returning soldiers are treated a lot better than when he served. But, he said, veterans still have problems adjusting to civilian life when they come home.
“These veterans are forgotten,” he said. “They can be fighting for their jobs. A lot of them get divorced. There are mental issues because of the stress.”
But, he said, looking around the New Lenox Commons, “I’m glad there’s a lot of support for them here, even from the non-veterans.”
Lindgren, one of the local veterans honored Sunday, is paralyzed from the sternum down from a car accident that happened while he was
on leave from Great Lakes Naval Base.
Lindgren was training to be a Navy corpsman at the time. He never made it. But now he’s a peer counselor for at Hines Veterans Hospital near Maywood.
Helping veterans at Hines “makes me feel really good,” Lindgren said. “I joined the military to help the Marines. I never got a chance to do that.”
Now, Lindgren often helps injured veterans like himself, many of them injured in battle. They appreciate support back home, he said.
“It really helps to have people around and events like this,” Lindgren said. “It’s great to have, especially for guys coming home, to know it’s not in vain.”
# Article as Source: Chicago Sun Times BY BOB OKON Aug 28 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment