Inaugural Be the One Walk to end veteran suicide a successful first step, DeKalb organizers say

Editor’s note: If you are a veteran and in need of help, call 988 and press 1, chat online at www.988lifeline.org, or text 838255. The service is a free 24/7 mental health crisis hotline and available to all. Veterans need not be enrolled in Department of Veterans Affairs benefits or health care to connect.

DeKALB – On a cloudy Sunday morning in DeKalb, more than 100 people set off together, some outfitted in military regalia hoisting American flags while others pushed their children in strollers.

The rain, held at bay through graying clouds most of the morning, threatened to spill over at a moment’s notice. Dry skies prevailed long enough to tease peace. Soon droplets began to fall, pelting the crowd below as they marched to conclude an awareness walk meant to draw attention to the worrying epidemic of veteran suicide.

In the end, the weather was fitting imagery for the day’s mission, lead organizer Cindy Hupke said.

“We were looking forward to a bright sunny fall day, but mother nature decided that was not to be the case,” Hupke said. “At first I was disappointed with the weather, but then heard from multiple people that the cloudy skies and rain at the end of the 2.2-mile walk was ‘perfect.’ They said, and I agree, that it was ‘symbolic’ of the cloud and weight of the burden that was and is carried by multiple veterans each and every day. It’s an ongoing battle that too many lose each day.”

The inaugural Be the One Walk was meant to raise awareness of veteran suicide rates and teach community members how to help a veteran in crisis to halt the daily death toll. Hosted by area veteran groups including the DeKalb American Legion Post No. 66 and Legion Auxiliary, the walk at Northwestern Medicine Health and Wellness Center also featured dozens of veteran-focused vendors.

Veteran Marshall Boyle, an attempted suicide survivor himself, sang the national anthem.

Representatives from area organizations set up booths offering ways for people to contact them in times of need, how to connect to like-minded individuals, ideas for wellness activities and educational resources.

Sept. 22 was a success in that enough people came out in solidarity of the cause, and to acknowledge the issue as reality, Hupke said. It’s a start.

If each person reaches out and asks a veteran how they are doing, listens to a veteran when they want to talk, and reaches out when a veteran is struggling, collectively, we can save thousands.”

—  Cindy Hupke

Legion Post Cmder Manny Olade, a U.S. marine veteran who was stationed in Hawaii from 1991 to 1995, said he was “blown away” by the attendance, especially when he saw people had brought their children.

Combating suicide rates is a community problem, not just one that affects veterans only, he said.

“A lot of the things that I talk about, outreach, awareness, it’s not just about the veteran. It’s everybody. It’s the household. It affects them all,” Olade said.

Suicide is considered the top problem facing veterans, according to the National Veteran Suicide Prevention annual report, which estimates that between 17 and 22 veterans or service members take their lives each day. The veteran suicide rate is more than 50% higher than the suicide rate for nonveteran adults, according to the American Legion.

U.S. army veteran Stephen Cox, 24, of DeKalb attended the gathering in full military regalia with his wife, Kimberly Cox, 24. During the walk, Stephen Cox carried an American flag over his shoulder. He enlisted in 2018 and served in the 101st Airborne unit in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Now he’s in the reserves.

He said he loves the Army and wanted to attend the awareness walk to help push for more public support of veterans and military families.

“We need more support as veterans in general,” Stephen Cox said. “From my experience, there’s a lot of support but there also is a lot of hate online. We veterans get blamed for a lot of things that not exactly we wanted to do or even did. It’s definitely a negative stigma.”

Kimberly Cox knows a lot about military families. Along with her husband, her father and in-laws also served. She said she showed up to “represent them, to show them I love them.”

The Be the One campaign has lived in Hupke’s brain for more than a year. In October 2023, she spoke with Shaw Local News Network about the budding ways she and others in the Legion Auxiliary – made up of military spouses – wanted to help. She wanted to get DeKalb’s own campaign off the ground. Back then, the run was but an idea.

But the Be the One campaign is larger: It’s a nationwide initiative rolled out by the American Legion meant to bolster local support networks – through military families, community resources and word of mouth – in an attempt to prevent future veteran deaths by suicide.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among veterans who are younger than 45, according to a 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention annual report from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. The report looked at data and trends over the past two decades from 2001 to 2021, including a full year of suicide data from the COVID-19 pandemic.

There were 6,392 veteran suicide deaths in 2021, 114 more than in 2020, according to the VA. The rates are higher among veteran men and veterans who identify in minority groups, data shows.

“The significant and unprecedented challenged this country faced in 2021 fuel this report’s continued call to action related to a while-of-government and whole-of-Nation approach to suicide prevention,” according to the VA report. “Suicide is a complex problem requiring a full public health approach involving community prevention and clinical intervention.”

The cost when those resources fail is high.

A somber table stood quietly in the crowd that rainy morning. Atop it lay 22 stones. Each stone had a name engraved: T. Reilly, JP Walker, Tom, Eric, Liam, Jamie, Sean, Josh, John, Melissa, Ryan, J. Hupp, Andrew, Til Valhalla, Kent, Gerald, Nathan, Patrick, Trei, Devin, Dillion, Jon.

Loved ones, friends, peers of some event attendees – all dead from suicide.

“As we looked out into the large crowd, the range of ages spanned probably 80 years, and included community members, veterans, and active military, and came from multiple areas of the state of Illinois,” Hupke said. “Some were family members and friends of those who succumbed to the struggle of PTSD. One mother who lost her son stating that after the walk her heart was full as she embraced the rock carved with her son’s name.”

During the walk, the stones were dutifully carried by those who knew them, a sobering reminder of the real toll many face, inside the military and out.

Part of that toll is something all veterans face when they come back home, said John Wicker, a Navy Air Force veteran who served on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in Washington working on aviators that fueled jets. He also deployed to the Middle East from 2004 to 2008.

A significant hurdle for military personnel is re-integrating back into whatever life looked like before service.

“Because we’ve all been through that transition back to civilian life,” John Wicker said.

Suicide is preventable. The Be the One campaign seeks to put community at the center of an evolving solution, so what does that mean here in DeKalb County? Hupke said that means local folks on the ground, building a welcoming, judgement-free space where those in pain feel comfortable enough to seek help. And those who want to give help are present and available.

The suicide rate for veterans is 1.5 times higher than the general population, and almost 25% of suicide deaths in the U.S. are among veterans, according to the American Legion.

This fall’s awareness walk won’t be the last, Hupke said. She’s already been out and about at other local events helping spread the Be the One campaign and build partnerships with area organizations that offer resources. She said organizers also will continue to work with local health care workers and emergency medicine providers to help better recognize a veteran who’s in crisis.

Sometimes, it can start with a simple conversation, to let someone suffering know they’re not alone.

“If each person reaches out and asks a veteran how they are doing, listens to a veteran when they want to talk, and reaches out when a veteran is struggling, collectively, we can save thousands,” Hupke said.