Run For The Wall: The Ride That Heals

摘要

This past Memorial Day, members of AMVETS Riders from Virginia and Maryland observed the occasion by meeting up with fellow veterans participating in Run for the Wall XXII as the group stopped in Bedford, Va., for a patriotic program at a local elementary school and to visit the National D-Day Memorial there. Now in its 22nd year, Run for the Wall is an annual, 10-day cross-country motorcycle trek designed to raise awareness of the POW/MIA cause and veterans' issues, with a dual purpose of providing healing closure for veterans through camaraderie. Beginning in Los Angeles and ultimately joining hundreds of thousands of patriotic riders who gather to observe Memorial Day at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., Run for the Wall passes though communities across the country, pausing at memorials, veterans' hospitals and schools along the way. Riders take part in parades and welcome home celebrations for returning troops, and receive escorts and recognition from emergency personnel and cheering crowds as they pass through small towns and cities on their way to the nation's capitol.