WELLFLEET, Mass. -- A bicycle ride to honor Cape Cod soldiers who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan took on new meaning for members of the Yarmouth Police Department on Saturday after an officer’s son was killed in a roadside bombing days before the event.

Yarmouth police officers and firefighters carried on with the 30-mile ride on Saturday, adding Nicholas Xiarhos to their list of fallen soldiers. Xiarhos, 21, was killed Thursday in a bomb blast in Afghanistan.

"The timing is unbelievable and we're trying to find some meaning for that," said Yarmouth police Chief Frank Frederickson. "It hasn't come to me yet."

Xiarhos was the son of Yarmouth police Lt. Steve Xiarhos, who helped organize the Wounded Warrior Project after his son’s life was saved by another soldier with connections to the Cape, Cpl. Jordan Haerter.

Haerter was killed in an attack in Iraq in 2008.

Nicholas Xiarhos joined the Marines after graduating from Dennis Yarmouth Regional High School and served a tour of duty in Iraq before volunteering to serve again in Afghanistan. He had been there for two months when he was killed in the bombing, family members said.

Dozens of riders set out at 9 a.m. from the beginning of the Cape Cod Rail Trail on Route 134 and traveled to Wellfleet to raise funds for soldiers seriously injured overseas.

"Even if it gets hard, just coast a little bit, think of Nick, think of the other fallen soldiers and it'll carry you through," said family friend Jim Hoar.

Members of Xiarhos' family were in Delaware on Saturday to meet the Marine's body at Dover Air Force.

"I just hope that everyone remembers him like I'll always remember him, even when I'm old," said Xiarhos' cousin, Emily Simonian.

A scholarship fund has also been set up in Nicholas George Xiarhos' name by the Yarmouth Police Relief Association. Donations may be sent to:

Yarmouth Police Department
Att: YPRA
One Brad Erickson Way
West Yarmouth, MA 02673

Donations should be labeled: Nicholas George Xiarhos Scholarship Fund.