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| Home Front: Politix |
| Rolling Thunder Riders Mark 20 Years of Supporting Troops |
| 2007-05-27 |
| Thousands of military veterans from towns across the country cruised into the nation's capital yesterday on polished Harleys and Hondas, filling the air with the unmistakable leonine rumble that, after 20 years, has become an intrinsic part of Memorial Day weekend in Washington. The Rolling Thunder motorcycle legions, expected to reach several hundred thousand for today's parade from the Pentagon to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, carry an annual message of moral support for U.S. troops fighting abroad, readjusting back home, and imprisoned or missing in action -- a message as relevant today as it was when a handful of Vietnam veterans founded the group in 1987. "We want to make sure that the soldiers coming back now from Iraq or Afghanistan, whether full or maimed or dead, are being honored and respected in a way that we never were," said Ed Geoffrion, 62, a semiretired auditor and Navy veteran from Chicopee, Mass., with a tattoo of an eagle clutching an American flag on his left biceps. He has ridden his Harley-Davidson Road King to Washington every Memorial Day weekend since 1991. Many of the bikers were Vietnam vets in their 60s, wearing gray ponytails and black leather vests crammed with badges, patriotic patches and military insignia; some were accompanied by their wives, sporting similar regalia. There were also several elderly Korean War vets in the crowd and a young Marine representing vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. For some participants, the event had a theme of carefully nursed grievance, a permanent wound kept alive so future generations would not forget. Many Vietnam vets spoke with deep bitterness of being neglected and scorned after returning from combat 40 years ago, of having fought hard to win a war that they said politicians For other veterans in the crowd yesterday, riding to Washington with Rolling Thunder every year has become a ritual of renewed, cathartic healing, a chance to feel unabashedly patriotic and to revel in the friendly welcome they receive as they travel to the capital. Milo Gordon, 63, a disabled vet and counselor from Wisconsin, said he felt lost and depressed for years after he came home from Vietnam. In 1993, he recounted, he happened to visit Washington and found himself at the Wall, sobbing uncontrollably over a wreath that said "thank you." "At that moment, I quit wanting to die and started to get involved," he said. Now, Gordon joins a group of several hundred bikers each year in California in a Ride for the Wall. They travel east for 12 days, first on interstate highways and then on smaller roads, stopping at towns in West Virginia, where they distribute donations for schools. Residents eagerly await and celebrate their arrival. "It is the parade we never got," Gordon said. "When everyone wants to feed you and kids are asking for your autograph, it really pierces that emotional brick wall vets carry with them." "When we first started out, we had maybe 2,000 bikes, and nobody knew who we were. Now we are respected, and the police say we bring down the crime rate," said Teddy Shpak, 60, a retired Veterans Affairs Department worker from Connecticut who has been to Washington every Memorial Day since 1987. But the showpiece of the Rolling Thunder contingent this year is Flashback, an exquisitely painted three-wheel Boss Hoss motorcycle covered with scenes depicting the Vietnam War. "None of us likes to go to war," said Lew Winters, 56, a Vietnam vet and trucking company owner from Tennessee who designed the scenes and had them professionally airbrushed on his bike last year in Florida. "But someone has to keep our freedom. This is our tribute to all of the 3.7 million who served in Vietnam." |
| Posted by:Bobby |