Memorial dinner to honor fallen troops

In the few steps Tom Rivers took between his bed and his cup of coffee that morning, life radically changed.

Through the window, the Hoover resident saw the three Marines walking toward the front door. And he knew his son Thomas was never coming home.

Thomas Rivers, a 22-year-old graduate of Briarwood Christian School, had died in the early hours of April 28, 2010, in Afghanistan after an explosive device detonated.

He had wanted to be a Marine from a young age, desiring to follow in the footsteps of his grandfathers, who had both served. He wrote once in his journal that he believed God had called him to be a warrior, and he carried that strong faith with him through his time as a Marine.

“After Thomas was killed, we decided to start sending care packages to his comrades, so we did that until they came home,” said Thomas’ mother, Charon Rivers. “Then we thought we should keep doing it for other soldiers in his memory and maybe even expand it.”

From this idea, a nonprofit organization called Support Our Soldiers was born. Through Support Our Soldiers, Thomas Rivers’ parents send about 700 care packages to deployed men and women annually. The packages include snacks, sausages and other food, and Charon Rivers tucks into each one a small booklet called “In the Shadow” that tells the story of Thomas Rivers’ life, faith and death.

“It has been very well received — people have written to us and told us that it’s very inspirational,” Charon Rivers said. “It’s our way of keeping our son’s memory alive and giving his death purpose.”

The organization, she said, provides some services for veterans, too, such as helping to provide outdoor wheelchairs for injured soldiers who have returned home.

And on June 1 — the Thursday after Memorial Day — the organization will hold its sixth annual Memorial dinner to honor those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and raise money for the work of Support Our Soldiers.

The dinner is set for 6 p.m. at Briarwood Presbyterian Church and usually draws several hundred people. This year’s speaker will be Jeff Struecker, a combat veteran whose story is portrayed in the movie “Black Hawk Down.”

Tickets are $25, or participants can reserve a table of eight for $300.

“It’s a very patriotic event honoring our fallen soldiers,” Charon Rivers said. “We want to encourage people to honor Memorial Day, and being there makes you proud to be an American.” 

Her son lived and served his country honorably, she said. When Thomas Rivers learned he needed a high school diploma to enlist, he threw himself into his studies, graduating and joining the Marines two weeks later.

“He joined the Marines as a kid, but graduated [from Parris Island in South Carolina] a strong warrior,” Tom Rivers said in “In the Shadow.”

Thomas Rivers was deployed to Iraq in 2008, then he went to Afghanistan as a Lance Corporal and team leader in 2010.

At 6:33 a.m. on that fateful April morning he was walking to take over a patrol for a comrade when he activated an improvised explosive device that fatally wounded him.

His friend Matthew Proctor rushed to his side and read the young man’s life verse to him as he lay dying — Psalm 91:1, which is used in the title of the booklet: “He who lives in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

For more information about Support Our Soldiers or to purchase tickets to the dinner, go to supportoursoldiersalabama.org.