Retired Marine Sgt. Rex Eggleton, 62, of St. Albans, welcomes bikers to Hurricane Wave Park during Wednesday afternoon’s Run for the Wall event.
HURRICANE, W.Va. — It was hard to find a hand not holding a miniature American flag as a group of more than 275 motorcycles carrying nearing 500 people rumbled into Hurricane’s Valley Park Wednesday during the annual Run for the Wall. Each year, the group travels across the country, starting in Ontario, California, this year, and will end its journey at the Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., Sunday.
The event, beginning its ninth day on the road Thursday, was started by veterans of the Vietnam War to bring attention to prisoners of war and those missing in action.
Each day brings a new course, sometimes 200 miles, sometimes 400 miles. Bud Phillips, one of the lead motorcyclists who carried the American flag and flags representing POWs and MIAs, said the group has seen pretty fair weather so far with a short bout of hail in Colorado and rain in New Mexico.
“What do you do? You keep riding…