I had an interesting conversation at Sunday’s post-race celebration after the annual Barrington Honor Ride & Run with Retired US Army Colonel, Wayne Kirkpatrick, the Board Chairman for our local chapter of Rolling Thunder. That’s the group of veterans & their friends that are among the most visible supporters of the men and women who serve the US military. The spotlight is on Wayne for today’s NoonDaily feature because I wanted to share a little of his story about the years he has spent serving our country and the reasons why he has devoted his life to increasing awareness about Prisoners of War and bringing home soldiers still listed as Missing in Action.
Colonel Wayne Kirkpatrick served our military for over two decades. Here’s why he’s made it his life’s mission to help other veterans, in his own words…
“I was an Ohio dirt farmer when I got drafted during Vietnam and I thought, this is terrible, because I had to leave the farm. Then I realized that I loved the challenge of the Army. I had never felt so close to people as I did in the Army where there’s a camaraderie that doesn’t exist in any other organization. So I went to jump school and learned how to parachute and I went to ranger school and became a ranger. The next two-and-a-half decades of my career included two tours in Vietnam, Panama, Granada and Haiti.”
“And I think what kept me in was that it was so humbling. America’s greatest natural resource is not gold or copper or oil, it’s our young men and women and to be able to work with, serve and lead them is indescribable. It’s absolutely such an honor and so humbling that it’s just beyond words.”
Wayne served in the military from 1965 to 1989 and retired from active duty in 1990. Today, he continues to serve through his involvement with Rolling Thunder, by calling attention to the sacrifices made by so many in our military and their families. The organization includes thousands of veterans and their supporters in 90 chapters across the country and they ride their motorcycles to events which honor and celebrate veterans and, specifically, those men and women who have yet to come home.
“First and foremost our core mission is to keep the American public aware of the fact that there are over 90,000 men and women who have not returned yet who have been lost since World War II. 90,000 is three major cities worth of people and that’s more than 90,000 families who have not been reunited with the remains of their loved ones. That’s a tremendous impact on society and a little known fact unfortunately.”
“I know this will sound corny, but if we take our POW/MIA flags and fly them behind our bikes and in front of Barrington’s riders and runners, my hope is that some 8 or 9-year-old boy or girl will say, ‘Daddy, what does that black flag mean?’
“And if mom or dad has to say that represents 90,000 of our American heroes that haven’t come home yet, then we’ve passed that education down to another generation so it’s all about maintaining the concern for our fellow Americans who haven’t returned. And, in doing so, we hope to keep pressure on our government to continue to search for prisoners of war and the remains of those missing in action in the hopes that we’ll be part of bringing more of them home.”
To learn more about our local chapter of Rolling Thunder and find out which events they’re heading to next, you’ll find their website at RollingThunderIL2.org.
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