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The Rolling Thunder Story
By Anne Nicholson
The Beginning
In the fall of 1987, in a little diner in Somerville, New Jersey, two
Vietnam veterans met to discuss their personal
concerns about the prisoners of war (POW's) and military service
personnel missing in action (MIA's) from the
Vietnam War. Having honorably served their country, and having taken an
oath to "support and defend the
Constitution of the United States against all enemies..." and to
"...bear true faith and allegiance to the same," they
were dismayed at how their brothers were left behind in captivity by the
very leaders who sent them into battle,
brothers who fought for America’s freedoms who then found themselves
alone without anyone to fight for them.
These two veterans discussed the more than 10,000 reported sightings of
live Americans living in dismal captivity,
which intelligence reports were generally ignored by the government and
mainstream media. Those two veterans
were Artie Muller and Ray Manzo.
The era of the Vietnam War was a dark time in our nation's history. The
country became divided over issues of
peace and war, and a distrust of government grew. In the years
following, patriotism continued to wane as apathy
and complacency set in. It was unfathomable for most that a civilized
government such as the United States could
knowingly leave their sons behind at the mercy of their cruel captors,
or erroneously "kill on paper" those classified
as MIA. Any talk of the government's failure to positively identify the
remains of those killed or missing in action by
deceptively returning misidentified bones to unsuspecting families only
sounded of paranoia to most. It seemed that
everyone wanted to ignore the facts and forget our heroes. That is,
except for Artie and Ray.
The First Rolling Thunder Demonstration
Artie and Ray were ordinary men who understood they had a right to have
their voices heard, so they proceeded to
lay down the plans for a demonstration at the Capitol building in
Washington, D.C. during the 1988 Memorial Day
weekend. They reached out to their families, fellow veterans and
veterans' advocates to unify and form a march and
demonstration in the nation's Capitol. They would announce their arrival
with the roar of their Harley Davidsons, a
sound not unlike the 1965 bombing campaign against North Vietnam dubbed
Operation Rolling Thunder. So they
would call themselves "Rolling Thunder," a title that would endure time
and be trademarked in 1990. Word spread
quickly and by Memorial Day weekend in 1988, approximately 2500
motorcycles from all over the country
converged on Washington, D.C. to demand from our leaders a full
accounting of all POW/MIA's. As they made
their stand that day in front of the Capitol, Artie and Ray reflected on
what they had accomplished that day and the
support they received from their friends and other compatriots-in-kind
who came to support the cause. This was
Rolling Thunder's first demonstration, and only until all POW/MIA's are
accounted for, it would not be their last. On
that day, the foundation was laid for the annual "Ride for Freedom" to
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall (also
referred to as the "Ride to the Wall").
Ordinary individuals created an extraordinary unity that would only gain
strength with time. The commendable
efforts of Rolling Thunder have brought them into the 21st Century.
Since the first demonstration, Rolling Thunder
has been actively involved in the POW/MIA cause relating to wars and
conflicts subsequent to the Vietnam War.
After the horrific September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America and
the War in Iraq, Rolling Thunder will
continue to work to ensure that all future service personnel are
accounted for. With well over 2000 MIA/POW's
from the Vietnam War, 41 from the 1991 Persian Gulf War, 14 from the
Bosnia conflict, and those unaccounted
for from other military operations and the War in Iraq, their mission is
sadly far from over.
Rolling Thunder Today
Rolling Thunder's increased notoriety has not been without its
consequences and critics. Since motorcycles have
become synonymous with the Rolling Thunder name, it has created a
misconception of the organization's true
objectives and purpose, and has sometimes overshadowed their many
accomplishments and contributions to veterans
and our communities. For those who know and support Rolling Thunder,
they are keenly aware that the
organization's advocacy of the POW/MIA issue does not begin and end each
year with Memorial Day weekend.
Rolling Thunder members are active year-round promoting legislation to
increase veteran benefits and resolve the
POW/MIA issue from all wars, and their generosity of time, food, and
clothing to veterans and their local
communities is continuous throughout the year.
Non-Profit Status & Membership
Rolling Thunder was incorporated as a class 501 C-4 non-profit
organization in 1995, and is headquartered in New
Jersey. Today, the organization has over 7,000 members throughout the
United States, with a few in Canada,
Australia and Europe. There are over 50 chartered Rolling Thunder
chapters in the continental United States, and the
numbers continually grow. The Rolling Thunder membership is comprised of
veterans from all wars and times of
peace. Their veteran members have earned such distinctions as the Medal
of Honor, Medal of Valor, Bronze Star,
Silver Star, Purple Heart, and others. Their membership also consists of
non-veteran advocates of all ages,
generations and backgrounds. Rolling Thunder also teaches the values of
patriotism and community service to its
youth. The National Chapter of Rolling Thunder has almost 80 junior
members (ages 18 and under) who actively
participate in visits to the local VA hospital, food and clothing
collection for homeless veterans, and fundraising.
Constitution and By-Laws
The Constitution and By-laws of the organization strictly govern the
chapters, with committee members working on
issues that include Government Affairs for the POW/MIA issue, Gulf War
and Korean War Affairs,
Veterans/Community Assistance, School Education, and overall public
awareness of the POW/MIA issue and
veterans' needs. The Constitution prohibits alcoholic beverages at any
Rolling Thunder sanctioned event, and
violators could be subject to retraction of membership and even the
dissolution of a chapter.
Mission Statement
Skeptics of the POW/MIA cause say that any efforts to retrieve POW's
are in vain. Some government officials feel it is
senseless to risk the lives of soldiers to search for "old bones," as
one senior military official put it when responding to
a proposal to conduct a search and rescue of Lt. Commander Michael
“Scott” Speicher (USN), the first casualty of the
1991 Persian Gulf War. When Scott’s plane crashed in 1991, he was
assumed dead and classified as KIA. He was
“killed on paper.” Years later, convincing evidence
revealed Scott survived the crash, and in an unprecedented move
in 2001, 10 years after Scott's plane went down, the U.S. Navy
reclassified Scott from KIA to MIA, then more recently
to POW as evidence of his survival and captivity in Baghdad grew.
Again, people found it hard to believe that we
would leave a son or daughter behind, but it happened. Unfortunately
Scott’s story is not unique, as there are many
others from past wars who suffered the same heartbreaking fate as
Scott, and there is convincing evidence that some
POW’s from Vietnam are alive today and even possibly from the
Korean War. Is Scott still alive in 2003? We don’t
know, but just because we don’t know doesn’t mean we forget
about him, or forget about the others whose status
remains MIA or POW. It’s easy to just go on with our lives and
not think of those poor souls left behind, but we can’t
forget. If it were your husband or wife, brother, daughter, son or
friend, would you forget? Could you forget?
Scott’s tragedy validates Rolling Thunder's position on the
POW/MIA issue, and further strengthens their mission
statement that vows "...to publicize the POW/MIA issue, educate the
public that many American prisoners of war were
left behind after all past wars, help correct the past and to protect
future veterans from being left behind should they
become prisoners of war or missing in action, and secondly to help
American veterans from all wars."
Rolling Thunder will continue to fight for the timely return of all
POW’s and the continued investigation into the fate of
all MIA’s. from all wars. Rolling Thunder passionately follows
the Army Ranger Creed that vows: "I will never leave a
fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy..." Rolling Thunder
will continue to grow and gain strength as
long as even one person remains unaccounted for.
©2003 A. Nicholson
Rolling Thunder, Inc.
A non-profit organization for
POW/MIA's and all American veterans
National Chapter 1,
Media & Public Relations
P.O. Box 216
Neshanic Station, NJ 08853
(908) 369-5439
www.rollingthunder1.com
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ROLLING
THUNDER®, INC.,
CHAPTER
3
NJ
N.J. Medal of Valor Recipients
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RT History
