Thousands of bikers roared through Washington for the annual Rolling Thunder rally Sunday, given added fervor this year amid anger over an ongoing scandal concerning medical care for veterans. Organisers estimated around 750,000 bikers and spectators had descended on the US capital for the annual eve-of-Memorial Day rally in support of American prisoners of war and those missing in action, as they have each year since 1988.
The awe-inspiring show of motorcycle might includes many US military veterans on bikes, clearly identifiable in leather jackets emblazoned with military badges and medals.
Henry, 58, travelled from Maine in the north-eastern United States with his wife and five other bikers. He said he was not surprised by the recent scandal gripping the Veterans Affairs (VA) department over delays in care to US military personnel blamed for dozens of deaths.
"I'm 70 percent disabled. I know all about the VA, it didn't come as a surprise," he said.
"We fought for years to get benefits that we were entitled to. It is outrageous, but what can you do about it? Not much."
"We may have the best army in the world, but we treat the veterans terribly, especially veterans from Vietnam and Korea."
Gary Scheffmeyer, president of the Rolling Thunder organisation and a veteran of Vietnam, said his group had been aware of problems with military care for veterans.
"I've been using the VA system for about 30 years, and I've been treated very well," he said. "Now, we've known of problems with different VAs throughout the country, and this is the most blatant one" Scheffmeyer said he did not want the current scandal to overshadow the principal purpose of Rolling Thunder, which was to draw attention to the fate of American POWs and those missing in action.
He railed against the lack of progress in securing the freedom of Bowe Bergdhal, a 28-year-old American soldier held hostage by Taliban forces in Afghanistan since 2009.
"As far as the POW issue, we complain to them all the time, because the government has one POW in Afghanistan, Bowe Bergdhal, who they just don't do anything about apparently," he said. Scheffmeyer also maintains that American POWs are still being held in Vietnam nearly four decades on from the end of the war. An estimated 1,500 American soldiers remain missing in Vietnam.
"As far as the Americans missing in Southeast Asia, they don't do anything about that, they just want to bring home remains, which is great, but there a still a lot of Americans who are reported alive in Vietnam and who never came home," he said.
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