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Posted on 04/14/2003 5:10:14 PM PDT by GOP_Lady
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Bikers support troops in downtown rally
04/14/03Harlan Spector
Plain Dealer Reporter
Before he led a rumbling convoy of Harley-Davidsons north on Interstate 77 yesterday morning, Chico Griffin looked into a sea of black leather and sunglasses and raised his bullhorn.
"This has nothing to do with being anti-war or pro-war," Griffin said in the parking lot of Southeast Harley-Davidson in Bedford Heights. "This is about supporting our troops in Iraq."
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Within the hour, the Cleveland chapter of the Harley Owners Group and thousands of other bikers rode into Public Square in a caravan of gleaming chrome that cast continuous images of tall buildings and blue sky.
They filled the Warehouse District parking lots and then packed into Public Square for a flag-waving show of support for U.S. troops. Organizers estimated at least 4,000 came for the rally (police did not have a crowd estimate). Many, such as Griffin, a former Army Ranger, fought in Vietnam. He watches news coverage of the war, and he remembers.
"These soldiers have to be tired," he said. "I can feel what they're feeling because I've been there. You don't sleep. You sleep with one eye open."
A biker they call "Pops" remembers, too. Alex Holoka Jr., 77, fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. He joined the roaring procession yesterday with a tobacco pipe in his mouth.
"It had to be done," he said of the war with Iraq, which he called a strike against terrorists. "They are scattered all over the world."
Carol Bridgeland of Parma stayed up late Saturday night making the button she wore on her black leather jacket, and the cardboard sign she held proudly. Both had photos of her 20-year-old son James, an air traffic controller in the U.S. Marines.
"He just shipped out last week," said Bridgeland, her blonde hair pulled back. She hasn't seen James since Christmas. She had planned to visit him in California last week, but he was deployed Thursday on four-hours' notice.
"It's been rough on us," she said.
"We don't know when he's coming back, what he's doing, where he's going."
Some of the bikers criticized media coverage of anti-war protests, and one speaker drew cheers for bashing the "liberals." The crowd swayed to "God Bless the U.S.A." and had a moment of silence for Robert Dowdy and Brandon Sloan, two Cleveland-area soldiers killed in the war with Iraq.
"I think the war was necessary," said Roger Spies, a Vietnam veteran, as the rally got under way. He wore a jacket emblazoned with "Rolling Thunder," an advocacy group for POWs and MIAs.
"It's unfortunate, but I think 9/11 proved that we're not the same country we were. We're not invincible."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
hspector@plaind.com, 216-999-4543
© 2003 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
CLEVELAND ROCKS!!
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