Expressway: Soldier Rides are a way to thank wounded vets
The Wounded Warrior Project's 2010 Soldier Ride crosses a bridge on the Robert Moses causeway as soldiers wounded in action and their supporters make the 22 mile trek to Overlook Beach in East Islip. Credit: Ed Betz, 2010
While I waited at the curb in sweltering heat near 100 degrees last year for the Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride to come through Amityville, an older man got out of his car and asked what the fuss was about. We told him that the Wounded Warrior ride was coming.
"Why?" he said. "When I came home I was spit on."
He explained that he was a Vietnam War veteran, but didn't say more.
"That's why we are here, so that that never happens again," I said.
Although we may wonder why our country is involved in Iraq and Afghanistan and about the validity of spending billions of dollars on fighting in the region, the consequences of war are seen on the faces and bodies of the wounded and maimed.
We'll be reminded of their sacrifices on Friday, when this year's Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride, a fundraiser for veterans recovering from severe injuries, begins at 9 a.m. at Babylon Town Hall. Other Wounded Warrior events will be conducted Saturday in the Hamptons.
In 2011, I was fortunate to join the wounded veterans at a dinner at the American Air Power Museum in East Farmingdale before the Babylon ride.
James Byler, from Huntington, right, rides with other riders in the 2011 Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride over the Robert Moses Bridge in Babylon, NY. Credit: Ed Betz, 2011
The soldiers entered the event to patriotic tunes. First came veterans in wheelchairs, those who have lost their legs and cannot be fitted for prosthetics. The next group proudly walked in on artificial legs. The men and women (yes, there were women warriors, too) grinned sheepishly or smiled broadly and waved, basking in the attention or seeming to wonder about the commotion.
I was struck by their faces -- young, gloriously young, and beautiful. My next emotion was profound sadness. Some were missing limbs, some carried invisible emotional and psychological scars.
After politicians spoke, I watched VFW and American Legion members speak earnestly to the young veterans, salute them and shake their hands proudly. They were comrades from different eras, united by battle scars. One cigar-chomping Marine veteran tenderly kissed the head of a younger version of himself and then walked away with tears in his eyes.
A slender young man caught my attention. He had lost an arm and had noticeable tremors. He ate neatly with a plastic fork, taking great effort to do so. By contrast, another soldier -- good looking, well-built and athletic-looking -- had a hell-raiser's twinkle in his eye. I didn't notice his wheelchair at first, until he moved it. Some vets with prosthetics said they were "lucky" to be walking again.
The Wounded Warrior program seeks to return the veterans "to a normal life," and these men and women tell you it's possible. How they can manage that is unfathomable to me, but perhaps the answer is in their youth -- every mountain can be climbed, every battle won. I am proud, and humbled, to have been in their company.
Reader Susan Bruno lives in Amityville.
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DETAILS
TIME, DATE, FEES: 9 a.m., July 20, 2012; registration begins at 7 a.m.; 50-mile route is $50; 25-mile route $25.
WHERE AND WHAT: Babylon Town Hall, 200 East Sunrise Highway, Lindenhurst. Veterans injured in Iraq and Afghanistan will pedal bicycles or propel chairs, along with hundreds of members of the public, to Overlook Beach on Ocean Parkway. The event has raised $300,000 to help severly wounded veterans in four previous rides in Babylon. Rides vary in distance.
INFORMATION: Town Council office, 631-957-3127; www.soldierride.org/babylon
HAMPTONS
TIME, DATE, FEES: 9 a.m., July 21, 2012; registration begins at 7 a.m. Fees vary for assorted distances and events; see website.
WHERE AND WHAT: Ocean View Farm (except Sag Harbor 5K Walk), 551 Montauk Hwy., Amagansett. Veterans will walk and ride on routes in the Hamptons, joined by the public. A focus of events will be the Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge between North Haven and Sag Harbor. Haerter, a Marine, was killed defending against a suicide bomb attack in Iraq in April 2008, saving the lives of other Marines and Iraqi policemen.
Sag Harbor 5K Walk will begin 9 a.m. at Marine Park, 7 Bay St. and Veteran's Way, Sag Harbor.
INFORMATION: http://tinyurl.com/8988jb2
