Rolling Thunder 2011

This year I will be making the ride from my home in Michigan to Washington DC to participate in the activites sponsored by Rolling Thunder. As a Viet Nam Veteran with service in the Marine Corps the Wall has always had a magnetic attraction to me. I know I should go there to pay my respects to my fallen comrades but life's demands always seemed to get in the way. On the two occasions I had to visit the Wall the setting just wasn't right and I didn't really appreciate or fathom the depth of feeling I would have when I go there.

This year promises to be different because I will be going with thousands of Viet Nam Vets who gather there each year to remember their buddy's, honor their service and keep their memories alive. All of us truly believe that "if we speak their names they will never be forgotten".

Jim (AmTrack Marine) will be riding up from Florida to meet me in DC and we will participate in the activies and memories together. I think it is legal for the two of us to go riding together again. I wish Ralph and Blue could be there also; the four of us together again would really make this special.

On the return trip I've arranged to go visit my niece who lives in Philadelphia. Her father (it's a long story that I won't go into here on why I call her my niece) was a Corpsman and we met in HM "A" School and became lifelong friends and shipmates. He died of cancer last year and I promised him I would always remain a part of his family. I'm an uncle to his children and a Grand Uncle to his grandchildren.

I also, today, successfully established contact with a High School friend and fellow Viet Nam Veteran (Air Force) of another classmate of mine from Corps School.

Gale (Stormy) Felver was with the 9th Marines when he was KIA in Viet Nam. We were close friends in Corps School and I've always been saddened by his loss along with another classmate Larry Yoder. I will be going to visit Stormy's gravesite on this trip and get the chance to say a proper "farewell and following seas to him". His HS buddy, Bob MacAvoy has offered to be my guide.

I'll post more as the time to leave gets closer. I'll also be posting photos of the things I see and do while on this ride. This one will be mostly solo and a journey that has to be taken. I don't know how it will all turn out but I'm confident that it will be filled with memories, new friends met, old friends remembered and a sense of fulfillment when I return home.

Stay tuned


May 18, 2011

Today I'll bring this blog up to date on the status of the Ride to the Wall as part of my participation in Rolling Thunder 2011.

A lot has happened since I last updated this blog page but I'll be brief.

Jim and I will meet up in Manassas, Va on Friday, May 27th and take a tour of the USMC Museum. I hear they have an excellent section on Viet Nam and I want to visit that to prepare myself for the events on Sunday.

On Saturday we will meet up with Capitol Base SSMC and take a ride to Annapolis. I sure am lucky; I get to play Marine and Submarine all in the same trip.

Sunday will be devoted strictly to Rolling Thunder and I'll get to join thousands of my fellow Viet Nam Vets and ride from the Pentagon to the Wall in honor of our fallen comrades and those who are still unaccounted for; POW/MIA from Viet Nam.

On the return trip I'll be stopping in Philadelphia to visit my niece and her family. Declan, her 3 year old, is undergoing treatment for cancer and I have all kinds of "stuff" for he and his two brothers. Harley stuff and Submarine stuff. Every kid in chemotherapy needs an "Honorary Submariner" do rag and I've got one for each of the kids thanks to my good friend and Escolar Base shipmate, Terry Klausen.

After I leave my niece's house I'll be crossing the Delaware into New Jersey and visiting the grave site of my good friend and classmate, Gale Felver, who was the first from my HM A School class to be killed in Viet Nam. Thanks to the persistence of his High School friend and lots of e-mails over the years I'll visit his grave and pay my respects and keep the promise of getting back together when we got home.

From there I will keep another promise and visit a second grave site of another classmate from Corps Shool. It took me 44 years to find out where Larry Yoder is buried and I found out Monday through the efforts of my wife and her boss.

So the trip will allow me to do a lot of things but most importantly I'll be paying my respects to two guys I knew, served with and ultimately went to war with in a far away land. I can truely say "there but for the Grace of God go I".

More to come....