FORT LEE, Va. (May 27, 2015) -- Cpl. Charles P. Gaffney Jr. was a principled man who wanted to protect the rights of others. His ambitions moved him to join the Army for a second time, serving a tour in Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2008. At a remote outpost in the latter, he was killed in an attack.
The 42-year-old Phoenix resident left a wife and two daughters to carry on without him.
Also left was a father determined to honor and remember his sacrifice. Charles Gaffney Sr., a 73-year-old Navy veteran, made his way to Fort Lee May 21. He was one of about 250 motorcycle riders who roared into the MacLaughlin Fitness Center parking lot for a stop on the annual Run for the Wall cross-country trek to Washington, D.C., to honor America's fallen and missing.
"It's for all the ones who haven't come home, those who perished, giving us the right to do this," said Gaffney. "It's in their namesake that I ride and just to bring attention to them. They deserve it; they need it."
RFTW revs up from Ontario, Calif., with three separate groups taking three different routes (and picking up riders along the way) to the nation's capital for the purpose of visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial during the Memorial Day Weekend. The event attracts hundreds of riders each year.
The RFTW riders arrived here at roughly 2 p.m. to sporadic rain showers that were responsible for moving the event from Williams Stadium to MacLaughlin. The guests sat in on a program inside that included a welcome from Col. Paul Brooks, garrison commander, and remarks by W. Howard Myers, mayor of Petersburg, Tara Anderson, Petersburg Freedom Support Center, and 90-year-old Trooper John J. Nichols, a Buffalo Soldier veteran. All praised the group for their efforts.
Nichols, dressed in a gold jacket and Buffalo Soldier Stetson, received a standing ovation after his speech. Afterward, he spoke of the common bond all veterans share through sacrifices made, particularly those who served in Vietnam.
"I take my hat off to them," said the World War II veteran, "because I didn't go to Vietnam. I chickened out. My hearts go out to them. They're the heart of our country today."
The riders and audience members were predominately from the Vietnam era. Gray beards, bushy goatees, bandanas and fading tattoos were images that dominated the scene. They were joined by veterans from the current wars in Southwest Asia and a spattering of those who never served but inspired nonetheless to join the effort.
One of them, Dave Cappel, is an Orange County, Calif., resident who has participated in RFTW 15 years. He said he was moved to join the effort by his Vietnam veteran dad.
"He took this ride back in 1999," said the 44-year-old. "When he came back home, he could barely talk, his eyes welled up with tear and he said 'I want to take every one of my kids on this route at least once.'"
Cappel said the cause has so much substance, and he is proud to be a part of it. "I'm with the police department back home, and this is my way of giving back," he said. "They recruited me as a road guard back in 2003. If I can get all these veterans safely across the country to pay their respects to their buddies who died over there, that's what I'm going to do."
While the riders, many of them clad in wet suits to keep dry, milled about on the gym floor, a platoon of advanced individual training Soldiers sat in the bleachers and observed a camaraderie among the attendees that can only be generated by a sensational shared experience. Pvt. Savannah Page, took note, her face showing an expression of gratitude, pride and comfort in knowing "that everyone can come together and be at peace," she said. "I think this is a really good thing they're doing for everybody."
Following their departure from Fort Lee, the riders made stops in Hopewell, Ashland and Quantico on Friday and Arlington National Cemetery and the VVM on Saturday. The group traditionally places a plaque at the memorial that completes their mission.
"We'll walk the walls and look at the names," said Glenn Scott, a Vietnam veteran from El Paso, Texas, who has made the trip several times. "And when we finish that, the riders will start talking about next year because what we do is so important.
"It's not who we are but what we do -- ride for those who can't."
During the same weekend, many RFTW riders also participate in the Rolling Thunder ride, another show-of-force effort to recognize veterans.
RFTW was started in 1986 by two Vietnam veterans "to promote healing among all veterans and their families and friends, to call for an accounting of all prisoners of war and those missing in action, to honor the memory of those killed in action from all wars, and to support our military personnel all over the world," according to its website.
Data on the site notes, there are roughly 83,000 Americans from various wars who have not returned home.
Social Sharing