More than 500 motorcycles to cross I-20 bridge Monday

Published 10:27 am Friday, May 15, 2015

ROLLING THUNDER: A police escort leads a procession of motorcycles across the Interstate 20 bridge in 2014 as part of the POW-MIA Run For The Wall heading to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. for Memorial Day.

ROLLING THUNDER: A police escort leads a procession of motorcycles across the Interstate 20 bridge in 2014 as part of the POW-MIA Run For The Wall heading to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. for Memorial Day.

The roar of 4 stroke engines will echo off the bluffs of Vicksburg Monday as nearly 500 motorcyclists make their way across the Interstate 20 bridge over the Mississippi River en route to Washington, D.C., for Memorial Day.

The southern leg of a three-pronged run to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial will pass through the city around 11 a.m.

“The group will stop in Tallulah to gas up and are scheduled to depart Love’s Truck Stop at 10:50 a.m.,” Louisiana state coordinator Angela Fry said. “It’s almost run like a military formation and really good at sticking to the itinerary.”

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Fry has been involved with the annual run, called the POW-MIA Run For The Wall since 2007 when she covered the event as a journalist for the Department of Defense.

Active duty will keep her from riding this year, but Fry stressed that there is still time for other riders to register.

“At this point we have about 500 riders signed up to leave from Monroe, La., but there’s usually 100 or more that just show up from there,” Fry said.

Riders can still pre-register at www.rftw.org or at Walmart in Monroe.

A few years ago Fry gave radio interviews and listeners started a Facebook page called Fill the Overpass.

People can coordinate where to watch the motorcycles pass and several ambassador motorcyclists who ride ahead of the group stop at some of the overpasses and pay their respects to veterans and families of veterans.

“Last year was the first year, but Run For the Wall started an ambassador crew and they ride an hour or so ahead of the pack and they’ll get off the interstate and talk to the people,” Fry said.

Mississippi state coordinator Don “Pappa Bear” Stringer has been involved with RFTW for 15 years and he stressed the need for riders to be insured to participate.

“If you go to Monroe Sunday they can register at the Walmart parking lot at a registration trailer or early Monday morning,” Stringer said.

“There will be a mandatory safety meeting before departing and in order to ride, participants will need to have a motorcycle endorsement on their license and proof of liability insurance.”

The run honors the memory of those killed in action, prisoners of war and those veterans listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War. The trip is divided into three routes, and takes 10 days to cross the country.

The group traveling through Vicksburg Monday will stop in Jackson at the Harley-Davidson dealership for the Trail of Honor, an event that includes living history demonstrations from every American war — from the French Indian War to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — active military displays and the traveling Vietnam Wall.