Man on crusade to end veterans suicide

LYNN – Thomas L?Italien?s 2,800-mile bicycle ride dedicated to ending suicide among veterans rolls to completion next Sunday in front of Lynn City Hall.L?Italien, 63, started pedaling his Fuji Nevada mountain bike from Flagstaff, Ariz. on June 21 and, in an interview Monday from Pennsylvania, said he has logged 50 to 60 miles a day, pulling a cart with 100 pounds of provisions and bike parts, and stopping at night to eat and sleep in the homes of veterans and people who have heard about his two-wheel crusade.He is not a veteran, but joblessness among veterans prompted L?Italien two years ago to join Team Veteran Foundation, a non-profit organization with a website declaring that “it is the duty and responsibility, as citizens, of all Americans to support our Veterans…”L?Italien said he needed to find a way to highlight veterans suicide after learning that a veteran commits suicide every 65 minutes.?I couldn?t sit there and not do anything,” he said.Lynn resident Traci L?Italien said her father battled through punishing heat in Arizona and New Mexico, and broke his bicycle chain during the second week on the road as he pedaled through the Plains states. A young man who recently enlisted in the Army helped him repair the chain.?During the first couple of days when he got awful leg cramps people urged him to stop. He said, ?I?m absolutely not stopping – these veterans don?t stop.? He got through it,” L?Italien said.Tom L?Italien?s route skirted Colorado and Oklahoma, and took him through Kansas and Missouri. His wife, Lauren, and Team Veteran members helped him organize sleeping arrangements and interview opportunities for highlighting veterans suicide and the need for prevention efforts.L?Italien rode as a guest of honor in a July 4 parade and met people along his journey?s route, including an Ohio woman who shared with him letters written by her son, a veteran who committed suicide in 2006.?It?s hard to even describe meeting her,” he said.Traci L?Italien said her father, a former union business agent and municipal worker who grew up in Peabody, has always pushed himself physically and enjoyed traveling. She said the death of her grandmother and her uncle in March added another emotional element to her father?s journey.?My uncle, Mike, would be right beside him – he would be thrilled with what my father is doing,” she said.Tom L?Italien said suicide prevention needs to be a national concern with citizens and corporations involved in designing and starting programs that help reorient veterans returning from service. He said regional therapeutic centers specializing in veterans? mental health care must be established.?We want veterans to build these things. If soldiers know they are building them for their brothers and their sisters, they will do it,” he said.As he pedaled up steep inclines in Pennsylvania?s Poconos Monday, L?Italien said his thoughts were with his daughter and grandsons, Tyrone, Marquese and Marvin. Traci L?Italien said her father is scheduled to arrive in Lynn at about noon on Sunday with Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy arranging for a police escort from the city limits.?I?m so proud of him,” she said. “So many people say they want to help out, but he got out in a big way and did something.”