Posted along a driveway outside a Schaumburg funeral home Tuesday, 50 members of the Patriot Guard Riders stood as flag-carrying sentries at a service for Marine Cpl. Ryan Cummings.
“The kid was going to come back, go to college,” said Ed “DJ” Mueller, an official with the motorcycle group, which attends military funerals. “He can’t do that. So we’ve got to respect him and what he’s done for this country.”
Cummings, 22, of Streamwood, died June 3 from wounds he received while on patrol in the Al Anbar province of Iraq.
His funeral was held less than a month after Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the Let Them Rest in Peace Act in mid-May, a law targeting a Topeka, Kan., church group that has conducted protests at military funerals. The law requires that protesters remain 200 feet away from a funeral home or cemetery, from 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after a service.
Members of the Topeka church, Westboro Baptist, didn’t show up for Cummings’ service at Ahlgrim & Sons funeral home. The church says casualties from the Iraq war are signs that God is punishing the country for tolerating homosexuality.
About 150 people attended the services, including Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn.
Among those keeping watch outside the funeral home was Sgt. Maj. Tony Carter of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, in Chicago, who said he was there to try to ensure the event went smoothly.
The actions of the church group can disrupt a private, difficult time for families, Carter said.
“We live in a society where people are allowed to express their views,” he said. “The only part I don’t like is when they interfere with a family’s right to grieve in peace.”
Cummings enlisted on the eve of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The attacks cemented his resolve that he had made the right choice to serve his country, family members said.
A straight-A student, Cummings attended Hoffman Estates High School, where he played the French horn. In between stints in Iraq, Cummings assisted in relief efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and helped build a medical facility in Africa.
“He was very loyal to his friends and family,” said childhood friend Anthony Kondras, 25, of Hoffman Estates. “He believed in his cause. Nobody could talk him out of it. He did what he thought was right.”
Cummings was scheduled to return home in August and planned to study engineering in January at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Cummings had met a young woman in California and appeared to be ready to start a new chapter of his life, said Mary Robin, a family friend.
He was “every mother’s dream,” Robin said. “The Marines were lucky to have him too. He always had his life planned out. He knew exactly what he wanted to do.”
As services ended, about a half-dozen women gathered across the street from the funeral home at 330 W. Golf Rd. and watched the funeral procession. The women were all mothers of Marines who served with Cummings in Iraq. “When somebody loses a Marine, we all share the grief,” said Barb Tsutsumi of Arlington Heights, one of the women. Bette Wilmot of Hoffman Estates wiped away tears outside the funeral home. She didn’t know Cummings.
“I’m just here because I want to say thank you for giving his life,” she said. “He was too young. It’s so sad.”
The funeral procession arrived at Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, south of Joliet, at 1:15 p.m., led by more than 50 Patriot Guard Riders.
As the procession arrived, six riders waiting on top of a hill stood, saluted, then placed their hands over their hearts.
More Top Picks Best Light Filtering Curtains For Living Rooms
———-