Approximately 50,000 motorcyclist military veterans, decked out in American flags and leather jackets, gathered outside Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington, D.C., on Sunday to raise awareness for veteran mental health and those declared missing in action.
American Veterans’s “Rolling to Remember” event saw the riders, many of whom have attended each year for decades, drive from the stadium to the Lincoln Memorial before looping around to ride by Capitol Hill.
“Start learning your history and how this country was made and [about] being free. It took our veterans to keep it this way,” motorcyclist Thomas Williams, who served in the Navy from 1976 to 2002, told the Washington Examiner.
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Since the tradition started in 1987, thousands of veterans have gathered in the district each year for Memorial Day weekend to send a nonpartisan message of raising awareness of struggling veterans and those missing in action.
Twenty-two veterans commit suicide every day and over 80,000 are missing in action, according to Sawyer Hendrickson, the 12-year-old founder of the pro-veteran nonprofit group Miss Sawyer’s Kids with a Cause, who spoke at the event.
“We are a nation of liberty and freedom, and we can not let the sacrifices of our heroes be forgotten,” she told the crowd.
2021 Rolling to Remember Crowd
Dave Bray, a Navy veteran and recording artist whose music focuses on the struggles veterans face after coming home from deployment, sang the national anthem during the opening ceremonies and addressed the crowd, focusing on the “freedom” men and women have died for.
“And now, the battle cry of the American people. The word is ‘freedom.’ Too many men and women have fought for it. Too many men and women have died for it, and that’s what that red-colored stripe stands for on that flag,” he said.
“We all need to remember that inside each and every one of us [veterans] is a 17- or 18-year-old kid that put their right hand up to God, and that young man or woman still lives inside of you, and that young man or woman is still a warrior. There’s always gonna be a warrior inside as long as you still have a breath within your lungs,” Bray later told the Washington Examiner.
Amid tensions between both sides of the political aisle, several speakers stressed the nonpartisan nature of the event’s message.
“Being a patriot is not being political. I am not a Republican or a Democrat. There is no Left or Right to me. I am just 12 years old. I am a proud American. I am pro-military, and until all those serving our country come home safely, I will continue to bleed red, white, and blue,” Hendrickson said.
Many of the attendees make it an annual tradition to ride in the event. Pat Flynn, an Army veteran, has attended for 20 years, he said.
Pat Flynn Rolling to Remember
The country needs to “give more inspiration to some of these young kids that are coming up into the military and show them more what it’s all about,” the rider told the Washington Examiner.
Others, such as attendee Pat Turner, came on behalf of comrades they had lost during their time in the military.
“I was in the Navy for 22 years and lost some friends along the way and just came out for that,” he told the Washington Examiner.
Some riders, like Mike Helvey, came on behalf of pro-veteran organizations. Helvey, who served in the Air Force for 25 years, represented the Christian Motorcyclists Association.
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“Honestly, I think we’re taking pretty good care of veterans. There’s always awareness of the issues that veterans have, particularly coming back from deployments and recently separated or retired,” he told the Washington Examiner when asked what the country must do to help veterans.
“You can thank them for their service,” Helvey added. “You can be aware that there are things veterans have been through that not everybody will understand, and just have patience.”
