WASHINGTON: Big motorcycles, hundreds of thousands of them, rumbled down Washington's normally hushed weekend streets on Sunday to stress veterans' needs in a time of war.
"The country is at war and all these are people who want to support Rolling Thunder, support our issues and to show support for our troops," said Gary Scheffmeyer, the national president of Rolling Thunder, an annual bike rally that began 20 years ago.
"At least to see if anything that can be done about them more than what's being done now," he said.
Rolling Thunder began 20 years ago to draw attention to US troops missing in action in Vietnam, some of whom they say may still be alive or whose remains need to be returned to their families.
Monday is Memorial Day, a holiday honoring US war dead. Bikers from across the United States numbered well over 300,000, said Scheffmeyer, a Vietnam navy veteran.
"The crowds were immense," he said. "The biggest I've ever seen."
The machines were expensive, huge, decorated with military insignia and US flags, but most of all, they were noisy.
Riders wore lots of leather and jeans, bandannas and military gear.
Vietnam army colonel Dominic Ruggiero rode 1,500 kilometers from Chicago, where he works as a consultant.
"We have to take care of our own and we have many, many wounded veterans and veterans of today that need long-term care and assistance," he said.
While medical technology allows many of the wounded to return from Iraq alive, he said it also means they need long term care.
Others came to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a long, black marble wall built below ground level and etched with the names of 58,249 dead and missing soldiers from Vietnam.
Tim Kistner, a disabled veteran of Vietnam, explained why he came from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
"The reason is that wall. That's where my friends are," he said.
The emotional burden he associates with the monument forces him to take his time at the wall, he explained. "I got to go there slow because they don't call it the wailing wall for nothing."
