"Honoring" Those
Who Serve(d)
In 1987, in an attempt to embarrass and harass the Laotian Embassy and US State Department, several MIA "activists" invited some of their friends to ride their motorcycles to Washington, DC and engage in a "tribute" to "POW-MIAs" and to veterans. Several hundred showed up; they entertained themselves by roaring around the Mall, riding back and forth in front of the Laotian Embassy, and generally making nuisances of themselves. Thus was born "Rolling Thunder" -- it has now become an annual event staged on Memorial Day weekend. Thousands of bikers ride into Washington, DC -- their bikes adorned with the required American and POW-MIA flags, shouting something like "Bring them home or send us back" -- for a weekend of "honoring" those who served and who still serve. This is a photograph taken at Rolling Thunder 15, Memorial Day, 2002, and published in the Washington Post, May 27, 2002.
I served almost 30 years, including a combat tour in Vietnam. This is exactly what I have always wanted -- a gang of half-naked, tattooed, adult delinquents, spewing exhaust fumes, "honoring" missing men, those who served, and those who still serve. Puke.