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 By Michele Linck Journal staff writer Sioux City Journal

LE MARS, Iowa -- At 8 a.m. Sunday, 13 motorcycle riders will leave from the American Legion Wasmer Post 241 on a solemn mission -- the Run for the Wall.

For the past 19 years, hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists, mostly U.S. military veterans, have ridden their bikes from their homes across the country, gradually forming two streams -- one from the north, one from the south -- before joining in a virtual roaring river of motorcycle-riding veterans. They meet up in West Virginia and ride en masse into Washington, D.C.

'For those who can't'

Their mission: to honor and keep alive the memory of those whose names are engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, and of all veterans, prisoners of war and those missing in action.

Or, as Wayne Thieman, who is making the ride with the Le Mars-based American Legion Riders -- Northwest Iowa Chapter, puts it, "We ride for those who can't."

Thieman, a former Marine who earned "a damn truckload" of Purple Hearts during his three tours of duty and 31 months in Vietnam -- will ride a leg of the trip in the place of honor, beside the empty space in the group's Missing Man formation.

Thieman is known among his fellow vets as "Spook." Although his first tour was with a chopper squadron, his third was in intelligence. He ended his 10 years in the Marine Corps with 13 months in a Philadelphia hospital, recovering from wounds.

At least a few other local ALR chapter members will ride with the group Sunday as far as Omaha. Two of the veterans will take their wives, one of whom is an Air Force veteran and the other an auxiliary member, as passengers, Thieman said.

It is the first Run for the Wall for all of them.

The trip measures 1,334 miles. They'll head south to Holden, Mo., where Thieman's son lives, then go on to Wentzville, Mo. There they'll join the main group which has already begun its ride, leaving from Ontario, Calif.

"Of course we've got to come back," he said. But the mission is in the going.

The run culminates on May 27, the Sunday before Memorial Day. All the riders -- last year more than 350,000 -- gather in parking lots at the Pentagon to participate in the Rolling Thunder (another veterans' organization) Parade through Washington. The parade ends at the Vietnam Wall.

Whole trip honors vets

"What's neat about the ride," he said, "is that every lunch break, usually a VFW or American Legion post or DAV feeds us; and there's always programs, ceremonies at their veterans' memorials." And almost every night, beginning in Wentzville, there's a parade, program or ceremony at the host town's veterans' memorial.

And, the group's evening stops are planned so the riders can visit the local veterans' hospital, legion or VFW post.

"It's not a joy ride to the Wall," Thieman said. "It's a gathering of veterans."