Rolling Thunder XVIII

I love Omar!!! He is one of the Raiders from Paul Revere and the Raiders!!!

The wonderful Nancy Sinatra...and I just love her too!! Everyone loves her!!! Make sure you visit her site and thank her for everything she has done for our Veterans!!! She's got me on her site too!!! www.nancysinatra.com

And this is me and Mike DePaulo from Rolling Thunder National and NY Mike!!!

And the special guest speaker for the day was......

.....Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld!!!

"During the past few years, I have heard
many say that our veterans should just
move forward and get on with their lives
because the war has long been over.  To
them I say, that as long as we keep
adding names to The Wall, like the four
that will be dedicated on Monday, the
war will never be over.  As long as our
veterans have to fight for benefits they
have earned by serving our nation, the
war will never be over.  Until every
POW/MIA has been accounted for and
brought back to the United States, the
war will never be over and until Jane
Fonda is truly remorseful for her actions,
the war will never be over."  
Nikki Mendicino-May 29, 2005

As I say every year, I could never, ever explain what being at Rolling Thunder is like....it is just something that you have to experience for yourself to understand.  The pride and honor that I have in attending Rolling Thunder is from being able to meet our active duty military members, those who have just returned from overseas, the patients that we have at Walter Reed and Bethesda  Hospitals and of course every Veteran who has ever served our country!!!  For this one day, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, a liberal or conservative....it doesn't matter....the only thing that really matters is that we have reminded our government that we will not forget!! On these issues, we will stand united, until they finally do what is right for our Troops, our Veterans and our POW/MIA's....we will not forget and we will do everything that we can to not let our government forget either!! We ride for those who can't.......the Thunder will be heard !!!

This paragraph is from the speech that I gave this year at Rolling Thunder. Some may agree with me, some may not.....this comes from what I have seen and what I have learned, they are my beliefs from the stories that have been shared with me and my own experiences with our Vietnam Veterans.

For info on Rolling Thunder XIX please visit www.rollingthunder1.com

For the best Rolling Thunder pictures please visit the sites of the official Rolling Thunder photographer, Mr. Patrick Hughes!! Tons of pics!!! http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?eventthumbs?event=08IW000J http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?eventthumbs?event=08IW000M http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?eventthumbs?event=08IW000N http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?eventthumbs?event=08IW000O

And this is one of the greatest pictures that I had taken!! This is me and Mr. Ron Stout.  Mr. Stout ran one of the booths over by The Wall and he helped me in so many ways.  This picture will always be special to me because Mr. Stout passed away only a few weeks after this was taken. I always visited him when I was in D.C. and I will miss him very much!!