(Press Release) ROSELLE – Thousands of residents from across the metropolitan region are expected to take to the streets of Union, Middlesex, and Monmouth counties on Sunday, Sept. 15, to demonstrate their support for the more than 2,300 New Jersey residents who are still unaccounted-for from World War II to the Vietnam War and the more than 82,000 service members nationwide whose families still wait for answers since World War II.
“We have a responsibility to our servicemen and women to live up to a promise – a promise to leave no one behind. But that is exactly what our government has done over the past 78 years. We have not accounted-for the lives of tens of thousands of men and women who went off to fight our wars never to be heard from again. That’s tens of thousands of families with no answers, who continue to seek answers and sit and wait for our government to find those answers,” said Charles Webster, of Mount Laurel and President of Rolling Thunder, Inc., New Jersey Chapter 2.
On Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019, thousands of motorcycles and some four-wheeled vehicles are expected to gather at Warinanco Park in Roselle to begin the 24th Annual Ride for Freedom culminating at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel. The 24th Annual Ride for Freedom begins at Warinanco Park in Roselle on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. Gates open at 8 a.m. and a $10 donation is asked of every vehicle. The donations benefit Veterans-in-need and the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Education Center. The demonstration ride will begin promptly at 11:30 a.m. with the 24.5-mile route taking riders through the streets of Roselle, Rahway, Linden, Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Old Bridge before getting on the Garden State Parkway to access the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.
“The 24th Annual Ride for Freedom is focused on highlighting those service members who continue to be unaccounted-for and sends a strong message to the families of the missing that we will never forget,” Webster added.
To put the more than 82,000 lives into perspective takes a simple trip up to MetLife Stadium for a Jets or a Giants football game. Look around to see the magnitude of those numbers. Every New Jersey Veteran who is still unaccounted-for since World War II could fill the stadium to near capacity. Each one of the seats represents a Veteran and his/her family here in New Jersey who simply wait for answers – most have been waiting for decades.
“That’s how many of our Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen are missing from our ranks and unaccounted-for from our past wars in the last 80 years. That is how many families live each and every day without answers about their loved ones. More than 82,000 families deserve answers and the families of the 2,332 servicemen and women who are still unaccounted-for deserve to know the exact fate of the loved ones. They shouldn’t have to guess or wonder,” Webster said.
Rolling Thunder, Inc. is not a motorcycle club, as many mistakenly believe, and it certainly is not a motorcycle gang. There are no membership requirements to own or ride a motorcycle. Rolling Thunder is a veterans’ support not-for-profit organization dedicated to holding our government accountable for a full accounting of the more than 90,000 men and women who never returned from our previous wars aiding and assisting living veterans-in-need.
“Rolling Thunder will hold to its primary mission to publicize the POW-MIA issue and to educate the public that many American Prisoners of War were left behind after all past wars,” said Mikey Romano, of Jackson and Chairman of the Board at Rolling Thunder, Inc. New Jersey Chapter 2. “We are dedicated to protecting our past veterans from falling into obscurity, and to protect future veterans from being left behind should they become prisoners of war-missing in action.”
“The missing can’t speak for themselves so Rolling Thunder®, Inc. and thousands of riders will collectively speak for them,” Webster said.
