Myers Joins 400,000 Riders in Rolling Thunder Tribute

DoD-AFPS ^ | June 1, 2004 | Jim Garamone

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Myers Joins 400,000 Riders in Rolling Thunder Tribute

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2004 – Like thousands of other Vietnam veterans, Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers donned his leather vest and added the rumble of his Harley-Davidson to the Rolling Thunder tribute in Washington May 30.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers and his wife, Mary Jo, get ready to rumble across the Memorial Bridge during Rolling Thunder May 30. The chairman and his wife joined about 400,000 riders in the annual Memorial Day weekend tribute. Photo Petty Officer 1st Class Bob Lamb, USN
(Click photo for screen-resolution image); high-resolution image available.

The chairman, an avid motorcyclist, and his wife, Mary Jo, joined an estimated 400,000 other riders who drove from the Pentagon across the Potomac River via Memorial Bridge to the National Mall's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, U.S. Capitol and Jefferson Memorial. Dressed in black leather and flying American flags, the riders rode as a tribute to those killed in Vietnam and to remember those missing from all conflicts.

"Boy, what a welcome they got on the streets of Washington, D.C. -- quite a contrast from when they came from war, in most cases," the chairman said on Fox News May 31.

"As you turn the corner onto Memorial Bridge, and there are hundreds, thousands of people lining the streets, and they're all cheering, they're all waving American flags, and there's a chill that goes up your spine that is so, so important," he told CNN.

Myers said that following his first tour in Vietnam, officials in San Francisco had told returning service members to change into civilian clothes before traveling in the States so they wouldn't be jeered at.

The chairman said Rolling Thunder is " a very appropriate event, and very poignant for many people, including myself."

Biography:
Gen. Richard B. Myers

Related Article:
Stakes Require Proper Handling of Terror War, Myers Says

Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers speaks with a fellow Vietnam vet during the annual Rolling Thunder ride May 30. This year's event started in Washington's Maryland suburbs, restaged at the Pentagon, situated in Virginia right across the Potomac River from Washington, and then traveled across Memorial Bridge to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, U.S. Capitol and Jefferson Memorial. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Bob Lamb, USN

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

 

The chairman, an avid motorcyclist, and his wife, Mary Jo, joined an estimated 400,000 other riders who drove from the Pentagon across the Potomac River via Memorial Bridge to the National Mall's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, U.S. Capitol and Jefferson Memorial.

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8 Stakes Require Proper Handling of Terror War, Myers Says ~  chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, interviews on talking head shows ~ DoD-AFPS | 5/31/04 | Jim Garamone

[patton]

You would not believ how bad this snarled traffic - but who cares? LOL.

I watched it from a boat on the river. It was great!

[prairiebreeze]

I heard Myers talking about this on Fox. How cool that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is into motocycling.

Prairie

[Aeronaut]

The chairman, an avid motorcyclist, and his wife, Mary Jo, joined an estimated 400,000 other riders...

400,000? all I can say is WOW!

[prophetic]

methinks these folks are mostly tree-hugging enviro-wacko liberals -

NOT!!!

:-)

[traumer]

COOL !
I wish to see Rummy on Harley...

[CWOJackson]

This would not happen under a Kerry administration.

[68skylark]

Very cool post -- thanks.

Gen. Meyers seems to cultivate a staid and low-key image. I don't know much about him, but the more I learn the more impressed I am.

Compared to other Vietnam vets who can't speak a sentence without blowing their own horn, Gen. Meyers and these other vetran rides are a real class act.

[facedown]

Toooooooo cool!

[DUMBGRUNT]

You can see Kerry on his new H-D,I guess his family owns the Ducati.
Also note that he is sans helmet; Mass is a helmet law state. And he ALWAYS seems to have one on for his bicycle?

[cmsgop]

But over on DU they said only 7OOO riders, No Biggie!.......LMAO!

[patton]

It extended for MILES down I-66, I had to take Spout Run Parkway to get to Columbia Island Marina.

The noise in the Pentagon Lagoon was so loud, I could not hear my cell phone.

[redhead]

"I heard Myers talking about this on Fox. How cool that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is into motocycling."

Kinda makes the other guys' Frenchy-bike riding girlyman twit look--well--TWITTY. Buh, bye, JF'n K!

[Wolfstar]

Very cool. Myers and the Vice Chairman, Gen. Pete Pace, are very interesting men.

[RoseofTexas]

400,000 waiting and ready to VOTE!!!!!!! Lurch must be shaking in his yamaha training boots!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well , wonder if he rides that HD out on the prairie.

That must have been quite an event.

[FlyVet]

Heh heh. I like Gen. Myers. One of the first things he said when he took over as AF Chief of Staff was that the (paraphrase) " 'Quality Air Force' Program has done more to undermine the quality of the Air Force than anything in recent memory...." . A silent cheer went up among many of us NCOs, and I'm sure many officers. No more spending our days making pretty little charts and graphs to impress the inspection teams instead of doing our damn jobs. The end of a colossal waste of man-hours and resources.

I also liked it when, at the beginning of the Iraq war, he told the journalists at press conferences that their distortions were "NOT HELPFUL". IOW, "You guys are idiots, and you oughtta shut up if you don't know what you are talking about."

[McGavin999]

Hmmmm, I don't recall seeing that Vietnam Vet Kerry there, do you?

LOL, can you imagine what would happen to him if he EVER showed up there with that group?

[Valin]

Boots made for backin' Bush


WASHINGTON - Nancy Sinatra may wear boots made for walking, but she rode to the White House yesterday on the back of a motorcycle.
The daughter of Frank Sinatra was part of a delegation of Rolling Thunder officials and others who met President Bush near the South Portico of the White House.

Nancy Sinatra, who recorded "These Boots Were Made For Walking" in 1966, rode in wearing a knee-high skirt, dark shades and black cowboy boots. Rolling Thunder President Artie Muller was at the handlebars.

Rolling Thunder, which provides information about Americans missing in action in the Vietnam War and lobbies on other veterans issues, has endorsed Bush for reelection.

"I thought you were going to offer me riding lessons. Turned out you offered me Rolling Thunder's national endorsement for my reelection, and I want to thank you for your support," Bush said later in remarks piped in to a Rolling Thunder rally.

Bush administration bikers - budget director Joshua Bolten, Health Secretary Tommy Thompson and Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi - also rode motorcycles to theWhite House along with the leaders of Rolling Thunder.

Kenneth R. Bazinet



Originally published on May 31, 2004