Rolling Thunder hosts demonstration parade May 30

NORTH CHICAGO — From 1987 to 2019, hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists from Rolling Thunder chapters across the country converged annually on Washington, D.C., for a Memorial Day Weekend demonstration.

Their aim — to keep POWs and MIAs top of mind and maintain government funding for the recovery and proper burial of remains on U.S. soil.

That annual pilgrimage came to a halt in 2020 due to the pandemic along with rising costs and logistical issues surrounding the event, said Wayne Kirkpatrick, a retired U.S. Army colonel who lives in Algonquin.

The mission, though, is not over. And this year, Rolling Thunder chapters will be kickstands-up for a new, more localized approach.

Here in Illinois, home to three chapters, participating motorcyclists will conduct what they are calling the inaugural Rolling Thunder XXXIII MidAmerica Demonstration Parade.

Participants will stage at the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Sunday, May 30, before setting off on a roughly 55-mile trek through 15 suburban towns including Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Glenview, Niles and River Forest en route to Cantigny Park in Wheaton.

“From all wars, more than 82,000 U.S. service members are still missing,” said Kirkpatrick, a member of Wauconda-based Rolling Thunder Chapter 2 who is helping to coordinate the May 30 ride. “You’re talking two major cities’ worth of people who are unaccounted for. Their families have no idea where they are.”

Rolling Thunder members have participated in seven Illinois repatriations of remains since 2010, Kirkpatrick added. At least two sets of remains, those of Capt. Joseph Olbinski and First Lt. James Meagher, had been missing since their disappearances in World War II. Others died while serving in Korea.

If, during our parade, we can get one little 9-year-old boy or girl to ask a parent ‘What’s that flag mean,’ as we roll by, we’ve accomplished our educational goal,” Kirkpatrick said of the POW/MIA flags many motorcyclists will display.

The May 30 ride is open to anyone. There is no fee to participate, Kirkpatrick said.

“We just want people who are patriots to come and show their support,” he said, “whether that be riding in the parade or standing along the route. This is a demonstration parade in support of bringing every one of our POW/MIAs home and honoring those who have sacrificed their lives for our nation.”

Other information is available at rollingthunderil2.org.