Those in earshot might have mistaken the roar from a group of motorcycles to be like any other out for a Sunday ride in Mokena. But the pack of riders traveling Wolf Road in the morning rain were out to honor the memory of a fallen Mokena soldier.
The inaugural motorcycle run for Army Pfc. Aaron Toppen drew hundreds on Sunday, with nearly every rider taking a detour through the Mokena cemetery where the soldier was laid to rest. The memorial ride was held a little more than a year after Toppen was killed while serving overseas.
The fundraiser proved to be bittersweet for the 19-year-old soldier’s family.
“This is a way we can make it through life,” said Aaron’s mother Pam Toppen, who joined the riders in the two-hour tour.
More Top Picks Ue Wonderboom 4
“That gut punch of reality will never fade, no matter how many days or weeks or months go by,” Aaron’s uncle Jack Winter told the riders.
The motorcycle run and continued community support, however, has helped the family cope with the loss, Pam Toppen said.
Aaron was killed along with four other U.S. soldiers in June 2014 during a friendly-fire incident in an Afghanistan village.
Word of Aaron’s death hit the community hard but the sadness grew into a groundswell of support and patriotism.
Cars and onlookers lined streets when his body was brought home and several hundreds attended his funeral at an Orland Park church. A street was renamed in his honor and Hailstorm Brewing in Tinley Park even dedicated a specially-brewed beer for the fallen soldier.
Ride co-director Troy Walker said the massive outpouring was a reflection of Mokena.
“Mokena has always had a close-knit community,” Walker said. “When Aaron was killed, it definitely brought the community that much closer.”
Proceeds from the ride will support a local nonprofit, the Lincolnway Special Recreation Association and to a wounded Marine who lives in the Chicago area.
Organizers and family members hope the effort only grow.
“For the first year, I don’t think we were expecting this,” Pam Toppen said.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.