WOODLAND PARK — Hundreds of people, families and friends gathered in Woodland Park to honor those who have served in the military. It's for The Annual Veterans Rally and the 36th POW/MIA Recognition Ride.
Over a thousand motorcycles came to Woodland Park High School to start their recognition ride to Cripple Creek, to honor United States veterans. People from across the state road bike like Can-Am’s and Harley-Davidson’s for the Recognition Ride to Cripple Creek.
“This is our veterans' ride, we do it every year. All the money goes to helping veterans with any kind of assistance they need,” Hopper said.
Royce Hopper is a part of the American Legion Riders and often assists veterans.
“They may need help, maybe they need housing. We've done stuff where we've gone down and bought a bunch of groceries for people,” Hopper said.
Aaron Brownlee was at the festivities this weekend. Brownlee served in the United States army for 16 years. He retired as a sergeant first class with two purple hearts.
“That 's why these events are so important. It is to show the vets that they are not only supported by the community but by the other fellow vets that they don't know are in the area,” Brownlee said.
Both Hopper and Brownlee said the recognition ride shows patriotism but also is about camaraderie.
“It's a beautiful thing, the way that is just about camaraderie, they are willing to help each other, if they see a bike that is broken down, you see four of them jump off to help, it's a wonderful thing,” Hopper said.
“Events like this bring back that family, brotherhood and camaraderie that they have been missing,” Brownlee said.
Bikers left Woodland park at 10 am on Saturday morning and rode to Cripple Creek. They were escorted by police and the color guard led the way. Hopper's husband was one of the motorcycle riders in the color guard. The bikers were advised to go 30 miles per hour for safety.
As bikers drove off to Cripple Creek, other people got the chance to visit the Traveling Memorial Wall.
“It's an amazing monument and heart breaking at the same time,” Brownlee said.
This wall is a smaller replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.
Thousands of names are precisely engraved in the wall. They are names of people who died serving in the military.
“To see all the names really hits home,” Brownlee said.
Hopper said every veteran is emotionally connected to the memorial wall in some way.
“My brother was actually a Vietnam veteran, and so I have helped with several walls in the past, helping set up and run it, it's an emotional event,” Hopper said.
Near the wall were other plaques that included individuals who died in Iraq, Afghanistan, and on September 11th, 2001.
“I want people to take away from the wall just the sheer number of people who put their lives on the line for our country,” Brownlee said.
The celebration of veterans also went to Memorial Park to listen to live music, play games, shop at local vendors and even buy a Veterans rally shirt.
“My favorite part of the day is spending time with everyone I know really and at the end of the day we get to go shopping in the park and get our shirts we get every year,” Hopper said.
Brownlee said his favorite is meeting new people.
“A lot of times you can make friends that last for the rest of your life and it's just fun to hang around motorcycles and have fun riding,” Brownlee said.
People are able to visit the Traveling Memorial Wall at Woodland Park Middle School until Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Event organizers made sure there was proper lighting to shine on the memorial at night.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
