News-Info-Alerts

Re: Cage Walk Heading to DC

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: April 29, 2003

"Cage raises POW/MIA awareness
Vietnam vet serves as example of inhumanity

Maria D. Martirano
Times-News Staffwriter

CUMBERLAND — Fred “Gunner” Bletz spends six to eight hours a day in a bamboo tiger cage with his ankles shackled to the floor.

Numerous flags fly from the cage and an old leather vest hangs from one corner of the quarters that are so small, Bletz can’t stand to stretch his body. Instead, he remains huddled in a corner.

A former Marine and two time Purple Heart recipient, Bletz hasn’t been forced to sit in the cage, but rather he’s doing it as a member of Rolling Thunder Inc. to raise awareness of those who are prisoners of war and missing in action from all wars.

By all accounts, more than 600,000 soldiers are listed as POW/MIAs. And the tiger cage represents what many POWs were placed in when they were captured.

“I think the families should have closure,” he said.

He, along with other Rolling Thunder members, will be on the Downtown Cumberland Mall today from 10 a.m. until dark as part of the Cage Walk. Members then will leave Thursday for their next stop, which is in Hancock.

The group, known as Band of the Hands, left Lansing, Mich., on March 15 and are walking about 15 to 20 miles per day to complete a nearly 900-mile journey. The final destination is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for the Memorial Day weekend. Although the group is not a motorcycle club, members expect more than 500,000 bikers for the three-day event.

Bletz, who served 8 1/2 months in Vietnam as an 18-year-old, said military service and war in particular will cause one to think of everything from the rights Americans have to religious beliefs. And regardless of those thoughts, war “will change you forever.”

He also believes that before a peace treaty is signed, all POW/MIAs should be returned to their country.

“Why make peace with a country and not know what happened,” he asks.

Roy Neer, 28, said he lost his job painting parking lots to do this but vows the group won’t turn back now even though the volunteers have faced all kinds of weather from rain, sleet and snow. He also called the trek “awesome” and said this will be his first trip to the nation’s capital.

“This is how badly we want all our brothers and sisters back from all the wars,” Neer, who has not served in the military, said.

Neer of the Ohio chapter said the group will do this yearly until all POW/MIAs are home.

James Watkins said the Michigan chapter developed the idea and built the cage as a way to raise awareness of the plight of veterans.

“Our troops are ready to come home,” Watkins, who is retired from a Michigan school system and also did not serve in the military, said. “I hope we can get better treatment from people when they come back from the Middle East.”

Rolling Thunder members often go into school and talk not only about POW/MIAs, but also other veterans issues, Bletz of Michigan said. The current campaign, however, is another way to reach the general public.

Another focus of the group is veterans who are homeless. Bletz, who is retired, also calls them “missing in action.”

The group, which has more than 70 chapters nationwide, accepts donations at its stops and also have items such as T-shirts, stickers and mugs for sale.

For more information on the nonprofit organization, visit the Web site, www.rollingthunder1.com.

Copyright © 2003 Cumberland Times-News "