Gathering of Eagles/Rolling Thunder rally for the troops (Updated)

Every Memorial Day weekend on Sunday, Rolling Thunder, an organization of mostly Viet Nam veterans, comes to DC for their motorcycle ride from the Pentagon to the Vietnam Memorial. It’s an hours-long parade of thousands of participants from across the country to insure that America doesn’t forget the men and women who died for this country in that unpopular war.

This year it’s a little different – today they partnered with the newly-formed Gathering of Eagles, which has it’s roots in the internet. When Vietnam veterans felt that the Wall was threatened by anti-protesters back in March of this year, they hastily assembled an internet gathering point and made plans to protect that monument from being defaced. On March 17th, they gathered around the three Vietnam memorials and the Korean War Memorial and lined the protest to the Pentagon. Crowd estimates were about 20,000 pro-troops participants to about 4,000 anti-war protesters.

I reported on that event and brought you pictures and videos, so I felt it my duty to you and the rest of the nation to bring the same to ya’all this time, too. It doesn’t look like the traditional media is going to cover the event – I didn’t see any journalists there for the three-and-a-half hours I roamed the area. No trucks, no shoulder-carried cameras. Nothing on C-SPAN’s schedule. I remember when they used to cover Rolling Thunder’s event, Brian Lamb himself interviewing participants, but none of that anymore.

Traditionally, Rolling Thunder gathers to remember the Vietnam veterans, but this year, the day before their customary ride, they partnered with Gathering of Eagles to show their support for the next generation of warriors. There probably weren’t 20,000 this time, but the were a few thousand there, as you can see from the following pictures.

Parking was no problem, apparently;

The biggest crowds were at the Vietnam Memorial;

Patriotism was the theme of the day;

Here’s a tribute for all of you patriotic motorheads;

That’s a little too much powerplant for my taste, though.

Click the “View Show” buttons below for two slide shows of other pics.

Maybe the crowds weren’t the size of the crowds back in March, but I think veterans have made their point – once again. And apparently, the media doesn’t care. I’ve even been watching Fox News Channel for even a mention of the event – and there’s nothing. Anywhere. If there were this many anti-war protesters, or half as many anti-war protesters, the news trucks and journalists would be swarming all over it.

Shame on the media for neglecting to give America the whole story.

UPDATE: Jim Holt at Gateway Pundit reports on the anti-US protest at the West Point graduation and Gathering of Eagles’ counter protest entitled “Battle of Bullhorns; Eagles and Moonbats clash” and Rob at Say Anything reports on the court order that kept ANSWER outside of West Point at “Court: West Point Can Deny Access to Smelly Hippies“. Silent_man wrote a detailed After Action Report of the West Point event on the GOE blog. Urban Infidel has more great pictures of the West Point event.

Skye has more pictures of the DC event at MidnightBlue. Big Dog reported “Great Day in DC; Not a Moonbat in Sight“.