A young man who has a lot of love and respect for his Vietnam veteran father’s goal was to give his dad his last wish.

The young man’s father had stage 4 lung cancer. The father had decided to stop taking any more treatments. He had a love of riding his Harley Davidson and requested that his son would ask other riders to come to help celebrate his final ride.

It was so he could hear the sounds of the motors roaring in his beloved home area in Circleville, Ohio. The ride was only going to be a short one. The father was not able to ride very far, due to his advanced condition.

When I saw the posting on Facebook, I was touched and believed this would be a very good thing for the Blue Knight

Ohio V to go and ride with this veteran to show our support and give him his final farewell.

I sent out a call to my fellow riders and friends, who I ride with, to see if they would be interested. I got an overwhelming

response from our members and from other veterans that I know. I figured that 50, or maybe 100 bikers would show. We

met in South Bloomfield, so we could ride together to the location at the AMVETS in Circleville. While we were waiting, groups of other bikers kept passing by us. Several hundred of them. As we headed to the location, more and more bikes. Wow, bikes to the left of me, bikes to the right of me. I could not count all of them. When we got to the point of deportation, the parking lot was full of bikes. We were sent around a block to get to the staging area. We had to park on the road about

a mile from the AMVETS building. There were hundreds of bikes — 2,500 was the first number we heard, then 5,000 bikes.

Then the last tally was 10,000 bikes. Bikers from Texas, Delaware, Rhode Island and the West Virginia Blue Knights. Plus, other state biker groups came out to celebrate the last ride of a veteran from the Vietnam War.

I would like to have thanked him in person, but there were too many bikes and people.

Our veterans deserve so much respect. When our veterans came back from Vietnam, they were not welcomed back.

They were changing from their uniforms in the airport bathrooms to hide that they were in the military. I am so glad

and honored to have been in a small part able to thank this veteran and welcome him home.

God will be welcoming him soon. (I am pretty sure God rides a Harley.) Thank you, Mr. Hunter, for your service. It was an honor to be invited for your final ride. God Speed.

Every time I rev my engine, it will be in honor of your last ride. May we all find peace.