In this round of poker, you start with a Full House. Your luck can go up or down from there.
The Winchester area chapter of Rolling Thunder’s poker run begins at 9 a.m. Sunday at Full House Cycle, U.S. 11, north of Winchester.
The proceeds help pay for teams of veterans returning to Vietnam to excavate remains of prisoners of war and search for missing soldiers, said chapter President Tom LaPlante of Gore.
The club also makes donations to families of service men and women overseas and the Veterans Affairs Clinic in Stephens City.
“More than 20 percent of the Winchester National Guard families will need help with food,” LaPlante said.
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Tom Herb will participate in the poker run fund-raiser Sunday in Frederick County. It is sponsored by the area organization, Virginia Chapter 1, Rolling Thunder. In bottom photo, Herb and Tom LaPlante, president of the chapter, are preparing for the run to raise funds for veterans of all wars. Participants do not have to ride a motorcycle.
(Photos by Ginger Perry)
According to Rolling Thunder, of the 51 prisoners of war and those missing in action from Virginia, only three sets of remains have been returned from Vietnam to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
Winchester’s Rolling Thunder Virginia Chapter 1 hopes to hold three poker runs a year, raising $5,000 to $10,000 to fund these projects and activities, LaPlante said.
For $12, participants buy a hand, picking up one card and a set of detailed directions at Full House, at 1544 Martinsburg Pike. They receive three cards at stops along the way, and their final card at American Legion Post 21, 1730 Berryville Pike, at the end of the 120-mile ride.
There, participants may buy two extra cards or trade in up to two cards. Then everyone plays their hand.
There are prizes for highest and lowest hand, and as many as 30 door prizes donated by local businesses. First and last prizes vary, depending on participation, LaPlante said, but for the last ride they were $100 and $25, respectively.
You don’t need a motorcycle to enter, LaPlante said. You can drive a car or truck. “It’s a family event.”
You also don’t need to be a veteran or own a motorcycle to join Rolling Thunder, said LaPlante, who is not a veteran.
Many local businesses have supported this ride, including Winchester Harley-Davidson, Hunt’s Cycle in Gore, and Valley Cycle in Winchester.
The club also has the support of American Legion Post 21, said Commander Marvin Marsee.
“They do a lot of work for the veterans hospital. They’re a good organization. They do a lot of work for the community,” Marsee said.
Rolling Thunder was formed nationally by two Vietnam veterans who LaPlante said “wanted to bring to light the fact that a lot of service men were left behind in Vietnam.”
Each year they organize a ride to Washington, D.C., to champion their cause, decked out in leather, patches, and ride pins from various fund-raisers and annual rides, and helmets emblazoned with stickers saying things like “Bring them home or send us back.”
“It’s not a parade,” LaPlante said. “Rolling Thunder is a protest held on Memorial Day weekend.”
Last year they had 500,000 riders, he said.
“We continue to march along and let them know we want full accountability for all our POWs and all our MIAs from Vietnam and any wars our government sends men off to fight,” LaPlante said. “We support all veterans.”
“Leave no one behind” also applies to these rides and the poker run, he said, with chase vans, trailers, and repair crews for anyone who has bike trouble.
Chapter member Tom Herb, an Army veteran, said the camaraderie and understanding between veterans and those who understand their sacrifice is why he joined Rolling Thunder last November.
“Being a veteran and my father also being a World War II veteran ... being shot down six times in 60 missions, I support everything Rolling Thunder does,” Herb said. “I want people to know and to make sure that these colors I wear, my flag, ‘One nation under God’ is kept in the history books.”
Rolling Thunder is also helping Herb’s father receive a very belated Distinguished Flying Cross Award pilots are supposed to earn for flying 50 missions in wartime.
“It’s very important to me because he’s getting on in years,” Herb said.
The organization works to recognize prisoners of war and missing soldiers in other ways.
Rolling Thunder won approval of a POW/MIA license plate. Those plates will be available for Virginians as soon as 350 people sign up to request one.
They also were successful in getting a measure passed mandating the flying of the black and white POW/MIA flag at all Culpeper County Schools.
“We’re trying to get Winchester and Frederick County Schools to fly the flag all the time,” LaPlante said.
Source: Karl B. Hille, The Winchester Star
