Legion Riders remember 'brothers' on Vietnam Memorial wall
Robert Easterday teamed up with some of his fellow Legion Riders and rode his motorcycle nearly 200 miles on May 25 for one sole purpose: to honor those who never came home from the Vietnam War.
A Vietnam War Air Force veteran and member of Clark-Eliason Post 352 in Somers Point, N.J., Easterday made it a point to attend Friday’s candlelight vigil at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. He pointed to a patch on his jean jacket that carries the number 58,479: the number of U.S. servicemembers killed during the Vietnam War.
“There are that many of my fellow brothers on this wall,” said Easterday, who estimated he’s visited the memorial at least 15 times. “I volunteered to go. I was one of the lucky ones who came back. If I didn’t ride with The American Legion Riders, I would come here myself. I leave my house at 4 a.m., come here and pay my respects and ride home.”
Easterday said he remembers how Vietnam veterans were treated when they returned home. Seeing the memorial’s wall lined with people paying their respects was “wonderful.”
Bob Mauer, a member and Legion Rider of Post 210 in Celina, Ohio, was in Vietnam during his Army enlistment from 1968-1969. He’s been to Rolling Thunder on his motorcycle “six to seven times,” and coming back each year is a little different.
“This year and other past years family members (of names on the wall) have sent a wreath or something that I’ve put here,” Mauer said, noting that some of the wreaths are from the families of high school classmates of Mauer who died in Vietnam.
“I come here to honor them,” Mauer said. “I’m standing here talking (because) I’m lucky. Each year as I get older, it means a little more to me. I want to honor the more than 58,000 (killed in Vietnam).”
Mauer attended both the candlelight vigil and then a wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday before heading home to coordinate Memorial Day events in Celina. “This is always a stop I need to make,” he said.
Tom Atwater, a founding member of Legion Riders Chapter 6 in Prescott, Ariz., rode 2,200 miles to take part in Rolling Thunder – a weekend that is very personal to the Vietnam War Army veteran.
“I have four friends on the (Vietnam Memorial) wall who can’t ride,” Atwater said. “When I get here … I just want to be here with my friends. Every time I go there it’s still very emotional. The closer I get to D.C., it starts getting to me."
Clay Scott worked with Atwater to charter Chapter 6 and still rides with them while being a member of Post 166 in Homosassa Springs, Fla. He said his first trip to the wall was the most emotional.
“There were just Vietnam vets all over the place,” Scott said. “They would walk up and grab hold of you … and say ‘welcome home brother.’ You could look each other in the eye and you knew you were (in Vietnam) together. Every time I walk down the wall I see some names of some buddies I was with in ‘Nam or some kids I was with in high school … or in college.”