Each year, a week or so before Memorial Day, a group of Viet Nam veterans assemble with their motorcycles on the west coast and begin a ride across the country, to arrive at the Viet Nam Memorial Wall in Washington. D.C. for Memorial Day. They call it The Ride To The Wall.
The Ride passed through Las Cruces, NM this morning. Each year, they stop here for a welcoming ceremony at our Veterans' Memorial Park, then press on, eastward. Here is a portion of the caravan parked on the street by the park. (On the far right side of the photograph, behind the row of motorcycles, can be seen the bronze statue that is a Memorial to veterans of the World War Two Bataan Death March.)
If The Ride passes through your city, get some friends together and go out to welcome them. A warm welcome from a grateful nation is long overdue for these veterans who didn't run to Canada, didn't hide in a deferment, but answered their country's call, obeyed the law and served in one of the most difficult conflicts in our history. We wish them a continued safe journey.
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