Anyone who drove through Eight Corners Thursday around noon may have noticed when the roundabout closed to traffic for about five minutes as 40 veterans in blue cycling gear, preceded by police vehicles, passed through it with onlookers cheering them on.
Their trip through Eight Corners and other parts of Brookfield and the western suburbs the morning of July 13 was the first leg of the Wounded Warrior Project’s 2024 Soldier Ride, a multi-day cycling event that takes place throughout Chicagoland each year. Like the name suggests, many of the Wounded Warriors suffered combat injuries during their time in the armed forces. Over three days of biking this year, the veterans covered about 63 miles.
The veterans began their ride Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at Possum Hollow Woods in La Grange Park, riding south to Harding Avenue before turning east. They arrived at Kemman Avenue and Washington Avenue around 9:50 a.m. before riding north to 31st Street and east to Des Plaines Avenue in Riverside.
From there, they went north to River Forest before returning to Brookfield, where they passed through Eight Corners just past noon. Then, they cycled east on Washington Avenue until they reached Golf Road, where they biked north into Brookfield Zoo Chicago around 12:30 p.m. under an American flag hoisted by a Brookfield firetruck.
After arriving at the zoo, where they were greeted and cheered on by staff, volunteers and guests, the veterans were treated to lunch at its Pavilions, where they got to rest, hang out and meet some of the zoo’s animal ambassadors.
“Cycling is an opportunity for these warriors to come out and take a break from their daily stressors and get a sense of relief but also connect with other veterans,” said Meghan Wagner, the Wounded Warrior Project’s physical health and wellness director. “Social connections like these can reduce suicide risk [in veterans]. This also could be a launchpad for these veterans to seek further help, maybe in other areas, and what we’re able to do at Wounded Warrior Project is to provide a holistic approach.”
Danielle Green, a spokesperson for the Wounded Warrior Project, lost her left arm in 2004 while serving in Iraq after she was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Green, a Chicago native who now lives in Florida, has participated in Soldier Rides on-and-off for nearly 20 years. She was one of the 40 veterans who cycled in this year’s ride through Chicagoland.
“When I got injured in Iraq, I went to Walter Reed Medical Center, and you don’t have a homecoming when you leave the battlefield. So, when I came back home, and we rode through the different neighborhoods, it was like a homecoming,” she said. “I felt the patriotism, and I just felt proud to be an American.”
She said the “mind-body-soul connection” she felt during her first Soldier Ride in 2005 gave her the confidence she needed after returning home from war.
Green said her favorite part of the event is interacting with onlookers and hearing their support for veterans.
“You want people to understand the sacrifice and that freedom isn’t free, and that there are people out there that sacrifice every day so we can have the basic liberties we have,” she said. “For me, just riding through the neighborhoods and waving and saying, ‘Thank you,’ and, ‘You’re welcome,’ and just that love” is what keeps her coming back.
The Wounded Warrior Project, founded in 2003, is a nonprofit charity dedicated to supporting veterans returning from overseas who were wounded or have post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health issues as a result of their service.
