MEMORIAL DAY ... ROLLING THUNDER

(Click on the still images to enlarge)

A Young Lady from Chicago High-Fiving the troops!

White House Lawn Party
(I shot this with one hand while riding my Harley, so it is off level)

Washington DC is so beautiful this time of year. As I rode into town on George Washington Parkway from the beltway, the stunning beauty just jumped out at me. The greenery, and the Potomac River filled with boats of all sizes and disciplines screamed summer throughout the land. Later in the day as we all rode through town the natural wonder of our Capitol came to life. After making that right turn onto Constitution Avenue the mature American Elm trees lined the path in a wonderful display of nature and city in a landscape that complements them both. On the other side of the parade path came the lovely Green Ash trees of Independence Avenue; they now guided the half a million motorcycles and their riders. These riders found their way here from all points that converged on DC, not unlike the old mountain men of the west that likewise met for a rendezvous.

Sunday was Rolling Thunder Day in Washington DC. This is a protest in regard to the accountability of the missing in action, and the killed in action armed service members. While the founder and executive director of Rolling Thunder, Artie Muller, met with President Bush on the White House lawn, thousands of bikes cruised past the white house on Constitution Avenue. I shot an image of the White House as I rode by, but my invitation to attend the lawn party must have been lost in the mail. Also attending the lawn gathering was White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, a long time Harley man. President Bush noted in his speech to Artie Muller that from his chopper, which I also photographed for this week’s column, he saw the men and women riding their machines through our nation’s capitol from above.

A large percentage of the riders are veterans, with a lot of active duty military personnel along for the ride as well. I had an Army soldier and an Airborne Ranger riding directly in front of me in the parade. The parade was four hours long of bikes riding two by two past the thousands of people and other bikes lining the route. It was an incredible display of individual effort on the rider’s part to travel here to show support for the POW/MIA issues, as well as Honor all Veterans on Memorial Day.

Besides the Rolling Thunder groups from the east coast, there were two groups riding from California to the Vietnam Wall Memorial, one on the central USA route, and the other group on the Southern USA route, all to meet for Rolling Thunder on May 25, 2008. Those groups are the Run for the Wall, or RFTW. Citizens from all walks of life made the effort to ride to the event as well, to show their support for active service members, and veterans. Some rode with us in the parade, and others lined the routes showing their support. The local police and government agencies did a wonderful job of clearing the route; this very long and record-breaking procession could move without obstacles, or dangers to their safety. This tremendous and daunting task was performed without a hitch as far as I saw, or heard about.

This was a wonderful event on such a grand scale mere words cannot grasp the scope of it. I hope you can make it next year, on your spanking new Harley! See you there!

Keep your head down,

Henry Hill, Plum Pennsylvania