Run for the wall!
by Fred Kreider - May 22, 2006

Friday morning, eleven friends and motorcycle enthusiasts departed from a motorcycle dealership in Northern Colorado at 6:00 a.m.  Destination: join the Run for the Wall (RFTW): Angel Fire, New Mexico. 

 

One could not have asked for a better day in May. The sun rose to a clear blue sky and the temperature was a perfect 60 plus degrees, approaching 80 degrees by noon.  Our route took us south along the Front Range just east of the Rocky Mountains to Walsenburg, CO. We turned west onto State Highway 160 and ascended the valley to North La Veta Pass, between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the San Isabel Nat’l Forrest, where it was cool enough to hail on us. Not a distraction, however, from the Rocky Mountain beauty.  At Fort Garland, we turned south toward Taos, New Mexico, and cruised the foothills of the San Juan Mountains and on through the beautiful Carson National Forrest. 

 

After a brief interlude in Taos, we turned east for the last twenty-eight miles through the canyon which opens into the beautiful Moreno Valley surrounding Angel Fire, New Mexico.   To the north, rising dramatically from a hillside over looking Moreno Valley, stands the Vietnam Veterans’ National Memorial.  This memorial was a labor of love by the family of 1^st Lt. Victor David Westphall III, USMC, ambushed in Vietnam on May 22, 1968, to memorialize his life.

 

According to Dr. Victor Westphall, this memorial “led the nation in memorializing all Vietnam Veterans; the living, the dead, and the maimed in body and spirit,” and spawned the building of Vietnam veterans’ memorials throughout the nation, including in Washington, D.C.  Dr. Westphall went on to say, it was created, “not to glorify war, but to honor the men and women who served in Vietnam, as well as all veterans for the selfless sacrifices they made at their country’s bidding.”

 

We awaited the anticipated arrival of the 450 plus RFTW motorcyclists who left Ontario, California, two days earlier on their way to Washington, D.C. to promote healing among all veterans, and their families and friends, to call for an accounting of all Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action, and to honor the memory of those Killed in Action. Shortly after 5:00 p.m., riding two abreast, motorcyclists made there way from the canyon, through the valley and up to the Vietnam Veterans’ National Memorial. The essence of the moment was boldly framed by heavy clouds, cooling temperatures, a stiff breeze and steady drizzle. The scene served as a reminder that thousands of men, women and families are impacted for life and continue to search for the meaning of war and its aftermaths.

 

Saturday afforded the privilege of traversing north central New Mexico and southeastern Colorado, in formation with the now 500 plus.  It was an experience one cannot forget!  

 

While parading through the streets of Trinidad, Colorado, a small town near the southernmost border of the state, suddenly and with out warning, a saddled (no boots) bay horse broke from it’s handler to gallop alongside the parade route for over three miles. Commanding the attention of motorcyclists and local citizens gathered to honor fallen and missing warriors, this proud and free stallion seemed to underscore the significance of this event.   Run for the Wall is a reminder of the loss of brothers and sisters, a promise of hope for America’s future, and a reminder that war is not the answer to our problems. 

 

Attending to POWs and MIAs is a cause the people of the United States should not forget!  Each of us may have been party to sending our soldiers to battle or perhaps you were one of them. We may anxiously anticipate their return or wish war never happened. But it did, and it does!

 

This Ride, the central route, joined the southern route in Washington, D.C., at The Wall and to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

 

Click here to learn more about the Angel Fire Vietnam Memorial.