The major function of Rolling Thunder®, Inc. is to publicize POW-MIA issues: To educate the public that many American prisoners of war were left behind after all previous wars and to help correct the past and to protect future veterans from being left behind should they become prisoners of war-missing in action.
We are also committed to helping American veterans from all wars.
Their annual ride/rally in DC on Memorial Weekend is how I first heard about them.
If you haven't experienced the annual biker invasion of DC by Rolling Thunder, you're missing out. We got a preview during Gathering of Eagles this year, but the sight of the Mall covered in a heavy dusting of Harleys and biker jackets makes me grin each time I see it.
I managed to get to the Lincoln Memorial this morning in time to watch the riders as they crossed Memorial Bridge on their ride from the Pentagon, around Lincoln, then down Constitution Avenue, past the White House and then all the way around the Mall. I caught the train home at Smithsonian Station and saw and heard them as they traveled back down the southern side of the Mall along Independence Ave.
I got there later last year, but both times a Presidential helicopter has landed on the White House lawn. Always a cool sight - I watched from up on the hill at the base of the Washington Monument last year - this year I was down along Constitution Ave right in front of the White House. I love helicopters -- cool noise. And that's one of the reasons that Rolling Thunder is an "experience". Downtown DC literally rumbles and vibrates for about an hour...
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