By Carmen Roberts (Nov 9) NEW YORK — We honor all our veterans who served, who protected our freedom. We also honor their families who sacrificed with them. Without our soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and coast guard the world would be a darker place.
photos: Betty S, Fabian C , Carlos V, Lolly S and Carmen Roberts
For a third year NYC Harley Owners Group rode to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in downtown Manhattan. Director Joe S. started the ride in 2012 to give the members a personal way to say thanks.
Twenty-seven motorcycles rode slowly through New York City as a wreath followed at the back, respectfully carried on the director’s Harley.
Arriving at the Vietnam Memorial, members quietly assembled and stood before the memorial etched with letters home from ‘boys’ in the war. In one case that was literally true. Private First Class Dan Bullock was a 14-year-old boy when he joined the Marines after altering his birth certificate. He died in action at young age of 15.
Riders solemnly gave the Pledge of Allegiance as the wreath rested gently against the wall.
Club officers attached the wreath to a fence surrounding the memorial so it could be viewed through Veterans Day on November 11. Director Joe S. said it was good to see so many members turn out to honor our nation’s veterans.
He said most of the members were too young to have served in Vietnam, but likely most know people who fought in that terrible war. A war that officially claimed 58,220 American lives during the conflict.
However, I know from personal experience the death toll extends beyond the war’s end in 1975. My older brother Stan, a Corporal in the US Army, died from cancer caused by exposure to Agent Orange.
The US sprayed the chemical dioxin extensively in Vietnam to defoliate trees and make the enemy more visible.
My brother died at age 39 leaving behind a wife and two small children. That was in 1992, exactly 20 years after he shipped out to Vietnam.
Just months before his death, Congress finally acknowledged that some cancers, my brother’s included, were indeed caused by Agent Orange.
Some veterans are still suffering from illnesses caused by that deadly chemical – and others are still waiting for recognition from the Veterans Administration.
My father, a US Army Chief Warrant Officer, did two tours of duty in ‘Nam flying helicopters, the most dangerous duty in the war. When the Army wanted to ship him back for a third tour, he retired. After decades of fighting for his country, he could give no more.
Like the young Marine on the memorial wall in NYC, my dad lied about his age to join the military. He was only 17 years old when he joined the Army. Within months he was fighting in the Battle of Anzio, one of World War II’s bloodiest battle. The fighting was so horrific that the Italian beach literally ran red with blood.
Shortly after retiring from the US Army and from what had been his family and support for nearly 30 years, my dad died at 46.
I was also a Navy wife for 20 years; married to Senior Chief Petty Officer PR Cooper, who also served during the Vietnam War.
He served as a flight engineer in P3 Orions, and also died after retiring from the military.
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NYC HOG Assistant Director Carlos V. recalled how he worked to help a soldier back from Vietnam deal with the immobilizing effects of Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The former soldier, so frightened by the images and sounds of war filling his dreams, he slept with a knife under his pillow.
After somber devotion to the nation’s veterans, NYC HOG members rode to The Cloisters in NYC’s Fort Tryon for some beautiful scenery to refresh the soul.
It was a day of contrasts: memories of war; the happiness of freedom. As philosopher Dr. Daisaku Ikeda said, “The struggle between happiness and unhappiness is the story of human existence. The struggle between peace and war is the history of the human race. The power that leads us to victory amid these struggles is the power of good within us.”
The short break overlooking the Hudson River gave the riders a chance to breathe in the happiness of the moment and to know it was made possible by the nation’s veterans who fought in so many wars and by all the military still guarding our country. Still, thank you is never enough.
