Welcome to
Run For The Wall
Southern Route
May 19 - 28, 2010
22 YEARS OF HONOR
Riding in Freedom for Those Who Can't
"Honoring All American Warriors"
Information on POW/MIAs
and for Veterans
If you're looking for specific information on POW/MIA/KIAs, try these sites: http://www.nationalalliance.org/ has many links to various spots for information on POW/MIAs, and http://www.pownetwork.org/2004_index2.html is the POW/MIA network.
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Keeping The Promise by Donna E. Elliott,
a much-anticipated book about her brother, Jerry,
MIA in Vietnam - "Case 1000",
has finally been published by Hellgate Press!
See below for more information.
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5/27/2010 - Received this message from Steve Allison, once a RFTW-SR rider, and a Patriot Guard leader:
Please pass on to other vets.
It's official; DD-214s are NOW Online.
The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) has provided the following website for veterans to gain access to their DD-214s
This may be particularly helpful when a veteran needs a copy of his DD-214 for employment purposes. NPRC is working to make it easier for veterans with computers and Internet access to obtain copies of documents from their military files.
Military veterans and the next of kin of deceased former military members may now use a new online military personnel records system to request documents.
Other individuals with a need for documents must still complete the Standard Form 180, which can be downloaded from the online web site. Because the requester will be asked to supply all information essential for NPRC to process the request, delays that normally occur when NPRC has to ask veterans for additional information will be minimized. The new web-based application was designed to provide better service on these requests by eliminating the records centers mail room and processing time.
Please pass this information on to former military personnel you may know and their dependents.
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In Run For The Wall XXI (2009), Cowboy spoke daily about the POW/MIA cause. Several riders carried photos of those soldiers across the United States. On 3/24, Cowboy sent out this message which he had received with the photos below. What Run For The Wall does makes a difference in the lives of these families:
"I just read your message and looked at the pictures [see below]. It caught my heart when I saw the picture of my brother, SP5 Donald Grella, on the second photo. One of the riders carried his photo last year on Memorial Day. We buried Don's remains on October 3, 2009 in our home town, Laurel, Nebraska in a gravesite between his mom and dad.......a place we had saved all these years. He was given a magnificent homecoming in Nebraska and an equally touching final tribute and burial in Laurel. It was an honor to know that Don's service and sacrifice and, ultimately, his homecoming, prompted such an amazing show of patriotism. I can only hope that the other families you are reaching out to in this e-mail someday experience what we did last October.
"Some of the remains that were recovered at the crash site could not be identified to a particular crew member. We will be in Washington, DC April 8-9, 2010 for a group burial of those remains in Arlington National Cemetery. We feel we have the best of both worlds. Some of Don's remains are now properly buried in his home town, and the group burial means that this crew, which was together for nearly 44 years in the jungle of Vietnam, will remain together at Arlington.
"Our family thanks Run For The Wall for their efforts to honor our missing and to promote awareness of the POW/MIA issue.
"Shirley Haase for the family of SP5 Donald Grella"
Photos below are from Karoni Forrester.
This e-mail came from Donna Elliott whose own brother, Jerry, is still MIA:
APRIL 6, 1968 - MEMORIAL DAY MAY 31, 2010
IP: 67.162.179.148
Posted on April 6, 2010 at 08:03:30 AM by Bob Vivona
On 6 April 1968, Golf Company 2/26 left hill 558 at Khe Sahn to reach the summit of Hill 700. Upon arrival near the top of 700 the 3rd platoon (lead Platoon) entered into a "U" shaped NVA defensive perimeter. The NVA ambushed Golf Company which took the lives of 6 Marines and 1 corpsman all from 3rd platoon. There was also more then 47 wounded from Golf company during that fight. Now on May 31, 2010 at the "Wall" in Washington DC, the name of Cpl. Ronald M. Vivona, will be added to the "Wall" next to the names of his brothers in arms who died 42 years earlier. Cpl. Vivona, was one of the wounded that day and lost both legs as well as AK47 wounds to left arm and hip. It was the heroics of Capt. Leroy Overstreet and his radioman who dragged my brother off the hill to a medevac and safety. Cpl. Vivona, died of his wounds on April 28, 2008, 40 years after being wounded due to tainted blood with the Hep C virus. In the 60's, the Military was not testing blood supplies for Hep C or Hiv. The Hep C, virus administered to Cpl. Vivona in his blood tansfusions to save his life actually set off a ticking time bomb which causes "End Stage Liver Disease" to develop. it takes 30 to 40 years for the disease to manifest itself and then the mortality rate is 5 to 10 year after being diagnoised with it.
Now on Memorial day May 31, 2010, at 1pm Ron will be added to the wall along with 4 others who died as a result of treatment for the wounds received in Viet-Nam. There will be a ceramony for the adding of names and family and friends or others are invited to attend. There will be private seating provided for the family and friends of those added and as of this date I know of the following persons other then the family of Cpl. Vivona who will be there.
Mike animal Preston, Ron Main, Larry McCartney. If there are others who would like to attend as guest of the family please let me know so I can get you added to the seating arrangements.
Thank you and god Bless You - Bob Vivona
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Keeping The Promise by Donna E. Elliott
On January 21, 1968, the 282nd AHC was on a mission to support U.S. troops under siege in Khe Sanh village when the lead helicopter was shot down by the North Vietnamese. In the midst of the enemy, Jerry Elliott jumped from his gunner’s seat to rescue fellow Black Cat soldiers, and simply vanished. The military listed him as Missing In Action—MIA—a hellish classification that provides neither comfort nor closure to those back home.
Officially designated as “Case 1000” by the Department of Defense, Jerry’s fate is still uncertain, despite a determined quest for the truth by his younger sister, Donna. Frustrated at nearly every turn by the POW/MIA bureaucracy, she stoically continues the search—one that has taken her from Washington, D.C. to Vietnam and back again.
Based on actual survivor accounts, Vietnam combat veteran interviews, archival research, and the author’s experiences throughout numerous trips to Vietnam, Keeping the Promise is a bittersweet tale of a sister’s unending dedication to do just that—keep the promise made to her brother, to the families of the POW/MIAs, and most importantly, to those left behind in Southeast Asia: We won’t stop until every last man has the fullest possible accounting.
