News-Info-Alerts

Re: Bikers Hit the Highway

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: May 27, 2002

"Bikers hit the highways for veterans

By THERESA HART -- Staff
Southwest Virginia Enterprise

The bikes were loud and so was the message.

Riding across the country to promote healing for Vietnam veterans, their families and friends and to raise awareness about MIAs and POWs, a group of motorcyclists roared into Wytheville Wednesday afternoon.

The group, which is the southern part of the Run For The Wall, started in Ontario, Calif., on May 15 on its way to Washington, D.C., to take part in Rolling Thunder XV.

Rolling Thunder is a Welcome Home And We Have Not Forgotten Parade, which, according to RFTW participant Don Morrill, protests Congress' lack of effort to find those soldiers still missing in action.

On Sunday, approximately 300,000 motorcycles are expected to take part in the parade. They will start their engines all at once and roll through downtown Washington, D.C., to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial - "The Wall."

The RFTW was started in 1989 by a couple of Vietnam veterans who decided to travel across the heartland of America to talk to members of the local media about the thousands of men and women still unaccounted for from all of the nation's wars.

The tradition continues today with a central and a southern route. According to Morrill, the southern route was added two years ago because the central route was becoming too long and hard to handle. The motorcycle line stretched 12 miles when it reached Washington, he said.

Only in its second year, the southern route is already one mile long, Morrill said. The route starts with the central route in California and then heads southward to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia on its way to the nation's capital. RFTW riders can join the procession or leave at any time, Morrill said. Some participants stay in hotels and other camp along the way.

On Wednesday afternoon, a group of 11 motorcyclists from Wythe County met the RFTW group in Kingsport, Tenn., and accompanied it the around 90 miles back to Wytheville.

Wytheville Mayor Trent Crewe was one of the motorcyclists to make the trip. During a welcome ceremony at Withers Park in Wytheville, Crewe said, "Welcome home to all of our brothers and sisters."

During the ceremony, Kent Wilson, the southern route coordinator, spoke about the importance of accounting for all MIAs and POWs from the nation's wars. To emphasize his point, he referred to a recent story about a U.S. Navy pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher, who has reportedly been held by Iraq since the Gulf War.

Wilson also recognized all World War II and Korean War veterans in the audience and gave them RFTW pins.

The RFTW group gathered in Withers Park again Thursday morning to meet with students from Spiller Primary School in Wytheville. The students sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and recited the Pledge of Allegiance .

After the formal ceremony was over, RFTW group members mingled with the students and allowed them to sit on their bikes before heading off to their next stop, Roanoke.

The southern route of the RFTW should arrive in Washington , D.C., Friday at around 3 p.m."