About one month ago, Trucker’s already had our countries
Veteran heroes in mind. Piling into their trucks and heading down the road in
rows by the thousands, causing a two mile per hour traffic pace, these truckers
did not give up.
They were protesting the barriers placed in front of the US
WWII Memorial. After one man initiated with a wire cutter as he sliced open the
government-imposed barriers surrounding the memorial, veteran supporters
swarmed in to demonstrate.
Hundreds then tore down the barriers for the Lincoln
Memorial, and proceeded to carry them over to the White House, dumping them in
front of the gate upon arrival.
According to GMN reporter Will Gonzalez, “A group of police
with masks and full riot gear moved between us and the White House, but after
the crowd shouted ‘shame on you’, the police backed away”.
Truckers have been playing a huge part in the patriotism of
the soldiers who have served our country. The above scenario is one of many
examples.
Wreaths Across America, a non-profit organization that places
wreaths on the graves of our veterans – each $15 donation covering one wreath,
and with more than 600 veterans buried in one cemetery alone this worthy
organization depends on volunteer truckers to do the delivering!
Another such example of trucker’s stepping up the tribute
plate: Freightliner has manufactured military themed tribute trucks which they
call the ‘Ride of Pride’ and donated a new one each year to Shneider’s trucking
recruit, building success each year. They have amassed six Ride-of-Pride trucks
so far, and truckers could not have been happier to bare the honor of sitting
at the wheel.
A more specific Veteran Tribute
deserving of mention, is a trucker named Rick Peters.
This man has himself a
custom-painted 2007 Peterbilt dump truck and transporter
called ‘Rolling
Tribute’ gathering the stares of respect and admiration, and reminding people
of the importance of saluting our veterans who risked their lives for us. But,
it’s just the beginning for Peters, he
has taken on massive projects for helping veterans in his hometown of Oregon.
He's said that while they
have a 51-acre site along Interstate 5 in Wilsonville, the project is expected
to cost between $200 million to $300 million to build. He said the money for
the center would come from both public and private money. Once built, it would
serve as a “one-stop center, which (could) house an array of services for
veterans.”
“We are tired of seeing these men and women
who have done so much for us looked down on, sometimes by our own government,
who sometimes aren’t doing all they can to help these veterans,” he said. “By
building a veterans’ center like this, we think we can help them by lighting a
fire under regulators and legislators. They are busy with their own agendas,
but need to know our veterans deserve the respect that is due to them.”
