Previous | Next :: Rolling Thunder : The National Mall : Washington DC | May 25, 2009, 2:37 am

This is from 'The Rolling Thunder Parade' of bikers that commemorates the service and sacrifice of US Veterans on this the Memorial Day weekend. It was an amazing sight and truly amazing sound........ 10's of thousands of Harley Davidsons roared on past......... the parade took many hours to pass one spot....... ridden by veterans of all wars........ but by far the most numerous are the Vets from the Vietnam war. They are an almost unique phenomena....... US Vets..... they are mainstream American and counter culture all at once. They look more like the hippies that in the 60's and 70's opposed the deployment to Vietnam of US military personnel......... and yet they are fiercely loyal to serving soldiers of today. They are proud Americans......... old soldiers......... and yet somehow they are also counter culture biker types at the same time...... and there really is an amazing number of them tens of thousands on todays parade alone ...... still defining their lives very strongly as 'Vietnam Vets'...... the old soldiers of 'Nam ...... they are good guys to meet....... always welcoming......... amazing to meet so many guys who remember the Tet offensive or the original Rolling Thunder Operation from back in 1965.

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXX