Rolling to Remember is a POW/MIA Motorcycle Ride in Washington DC each Memorial day. Nearly a hundred thousand vets and bikers ride to DC each Memorial day from all over the country each year for this event…
AMVETS is organizing the event and AMVETS National Commander and Air Force veteran Jan Brown will be discussing everything you need to know about Rolling to Remember, the big Memorial Day event in Washington DC this year…
Commander Brown served her country for 27 years in the U.S. Air Force and retired as a Senior Master Sergeant.
TRANSCRIPT – Transcript and Subtitles are generated automatically by YouTube and may contain errors.
good evening vietnam
welcome to lc bunker this is veterans
live show
i’m your host ronnie embrace i serve
with 101st airborne division
in vietnam from december 67 to december
68.
tonight’s guest is amvets national
commander jan brown
she has served her country for 27 years
in the united states
air force and retired as a senior master
sergeant
she will be discussing rowling to
remember the big
memorial day event in washington dc this
year
nearly 100 000 vets and bikers ride to
dc each memorial day from all over the
country
commander brown will tell you everything
you need to know about it
roll it to remember how to register for
the event
watch the event or maybe even volunteer
for the event
we will speak to jan in a few moments
but first i would like to let you know
that the
veterans live show is brought to you by
the veterans vietnam veterans book
fallen never forgotten
you can visit fallenforgone.com to get
your copy
of a 265 page book that brings you one
memorial from each state
usually the state memorial and gives you
a profile about it
how it got the funds the property who
did the sculptures
all the things about where they got the
granite the landscape architecture
and list all the guys who never came
home
headlines let’s go to the headline
section
memorial day is just around the corner
we will be broadcasting
from thunder alley next to the vietnam
war in washington d.c
adjacent to the lincoln memorial
we’ll also be live streaming events and
doing interviews so stay tuned
to our facebook pages and subscribe to
our vietnam
veterans live show youtube channel
so you can know exactly where we are and
stop by and say hello
and maybe get interviewed or else just
come on the show
go to vietnam veterans club photo being
on veterans photo club on facebook
and sign in okay now we’re going to do
the timeline
[Music]
the vietnam war timeline may 12 1968.
my goodness 53 years ago
the second large-scale communist
defensive began on may 5th
it reaches its climax it began with the
simultaneous shelling of 119 cities
towns and barracks
the principal target was saigon
u.s jets dropped napalm and high
explosive bombs to pound the vietcong
stronghold in the slum district around
the y
bridge preparing the way for an assault
by the united states infantry
number two the number one song on
may 12 1968 was tighten up
okay guys hit it the archie bell in the
drills
there you go okay this day in the
vietnam war
may 12 1975 the american freighter my
august is captured by communist forces
in cambodia
setting up an international incident the
mike was
captured by gunboats of the cambodian
navy
authorities imprisoned 39-man american
crew
we got him released the number one song
on may 12 1975 was
he don’t love you like i love you by
tony orlando and
dawn okay so let’s now go to the photo
segment
okay what have we got first photograph
by nancy thomas
i want to give a holler for all our
four-legged vietnam veterans also
they save many a soldier they didn’t get
a welcome home
they needed such a shame they were not
able to bring them back to america
that is the most absurd thing i can
remember from that war to tell you the
truth
why couldn’t the dogs come home i uh
i got to get an answer thank you for
bringing that up i’m going to research
that
okay next photo by ray cassidy
some days the humidity were almost more
than one could bear
if not wet from rain you were soaked in
sweat and filth
skin on your feet came off and flim like
gobs
skin helmets ring worm impetigo and god
knows what else
yeah all kinds of things like that
thank you for that picture next picture
mcdaniel bryant chief hospital corpsman
stephen brown first marines talks with
two refugee kids at quang nan province
november 1st 1970 and as always the kids
suffered the most yeah we’re going to do
a segment on
a show on kids pretty soon coming up so
get your photographs ready guys
next picture for michael lawrence
my fault that’s a forward observer for
artillery and i return it to dang ha
from tdy with arvin rangers headed back
to kantian
that’s a hell hole next picture
fred krieg our convoy and appears to be
just before we hit the mountains
we are probably taking a break i took
this photo from the back of a deuce and
a half
truck aka doosan efforts yes sorry about
that
that was my sorry fred but that was my
normal way to see a
two and a half english deuce and a half
thank you for that picture okay our
vietnam part of the week
imagine they made trading cards about
vietnam
here we go search and destroy mission
yep there you go look got some con
captives there with south vietnam
continuing to suffer heavy casualties
general
westmoreland increases american troop
levels and commences search and destroy
tactical operations
in these operations larger fighting
units would
find fix in place fight and destroy
enemy forces
and their bases later clearing
operations would flush out remaining
communists
search and destroy yeah okay
what do we got now hello jan hi welcome
into the bunker
thank you and thank you for your service
thank you for yours 27 years my goodness
gracious
now you’re commander of amvets i’m an
amvat member by the way
oh good absolutely yeah i’m a member of
everything
me too believe me they remind you
they remind you like 25 yeah don’t
forget to send your dues in
okay um this is about a this is a big
deal coming up in uh dc every year
so uh why don’t you tell us what
you’re beginning from amvets started and
to today well we really haven’t started
we took over
when rolling thunder decided after 32
years not to continue
right right uh amvets took it upon ours
we took it upon ourselves
to we we feel very strongly that this
ride needs to be continued
it’s a first amendment right first
amendment ride it’s a demonstration ride
to continue to bring attention to the uh
over 80 000 uh men and women who are
still missing
in action and our pows to
so that congress will continue to fund
our uh
efforts to bring them home and
we felt that it’s been very important
last year was exceptionally
frustrating we got all the way to the
finish line
and coveted hit and we were not allowed
to do
much of anything there were about 50 of
us who
rode anyway and
we did have a presence in the city we
did virtual rides throughout the country
in support of
of the ride and uh this year we’re
it’s been almost as frustrating we
didn’t know
until monday exactly where we would be
staging from
and uh because the pentagon at the last
waited till the last minute to tell us
no and uh
then it was the city of dc was not open
yet
and so excuse me give me one moment did
the pentagon tell you why
they said covid what did kova do with a
motorcycle
i don’t know uh i’m not going to get
into that because we still want to stage
from there in the future
okay okay thank you very very
politically correct i got you
but uh um anyway we were going to stage
from the streets
uh they had arranged for us to stage
from the streets and then
as we started that meeting with all the
the police forces
in the area uh we got an announcement
that
uh restrictions would be lifted on may
21st
so that we would be able to if available
we would be able to use
rfk stadium so effective today we are
using rfk stadium
uh to stage from so good
that’s a that’s a relief now now now
it’s
excuse the expression balls to the walls
until uh
may 30th getting it ready oh yeah
yeah to the last minute down there yeah
well
you know fortunately we can go with the
flow and and now we’re pretty flexible
so
we just hope everybody else is yeah
how’d you get involved with this uh with
rolling to remember well
we’re just ambassadors both um
when i met my at the time my future
husband
he was uh very active in amvets and
decided that if we were going to be
together i needed to be active and
amvets also
and um uh it’s kind of like if they
don’t like you you’re out
you know so uh i guess they like me they
it’s my second year as commander so
i’m working on it but uh i i got into it
initially and it has become my life
pretty much uh serving veterans
which is what we’re known uh we like to
think we’re known for and taking on
causes
i like to say that amvets we take on the
we take on the stuff that
other established veteran service
organizations
wouldn’t you know like taking over
rolling thunder
taking we developed our heal team uh
we’re trying to work outside the box to
help veterans and uh
i’m i i really like
the fact that we do that and uh it
doesn’t always work
but you know what at least we tried so i
know what’s the percentage of the uh
younger troops coming in from
afghanistan the iraqi war 90s
than the two 20 uh you know
current um
it’s low it’s probably under five
percent coming in into the vsos
um they may be in the uh iava
or uh wounded warrior um
they’re more of a um particularly iava
they’re more of a
uh legislative lobbying kind of group
uh you know they’re not a traditional
veteran service organization like amvets
or american legion vfw
uh they don’t have uh like post homes or
anyplace
uh uh you join uh they verify your
service and they print you out a
membership card
yeah so but it there’s just primarily
their mission is lobbying on the hill to
make sure that
this generation of veterans doesn’t go
through what
um the vietnam the standard
the standard the lowest standard ever
yes i my husband was in vietnam did two
tours
and uh is a brown water sailor and
i uh he was on lcms uh
about the time you were there and uh and
then came back and did another tour
uh i was in the philippines when saigon
fell
so in the in uh in may of 75
when saigon fell i was there and that
was there for operation baby lift and
operation
freedom lifts so well i didn’t serve in
country
i did have a connection yeah sure
it’s a it means a lot to me and this
ride means
a lot to me so
i i would encourage anybody that can to
come out
friday night we’re doing the uh
vigil at the at the vietnam wall and
lane wreath
on friday night there’ll be activities
uh throughout the area on saturday at
the different harley dealerships
and then sunday morning we’ll be gearing
up for the um
for the for the main event and uh
we’ll be taking off out of rfk stadium
at eight
at uh noon on sunday and go until
they’re
all out and uh the route is obviously
different this year since we’re not
leaving from the pentagon
uh we’re also looking at uh
uh it’s changed enough that we’re not
going over memorial bridge which
uh saddens me a little bit but yeah it’s
a bit much better farlington yeah
but i like the video now jen okay let’s
go
matt roll it up
[Music]
so
[Music]
so
[Music]
[Music]
so
[Music]
[Music]
okay how did we get that name
wrong yeah i did uh
we had uh like a little contest to see
who come up with the name
and uh um we had to find one that wasn’t
being used
somewhere else and uh but still invoked
what we were trying to do
and uh so rolling to remember was
suggested and
and uh i kind of got the final decision
so
i made it and uh uh because i i think it
it’s it says it all we’re we’re rolling
on to remember
yeah right some fabulous
photos there and the video was good this
guy
we interviewed we interviewed this
marine two weeks ago uh tim chambers yes
the sword
yes he’ll be back this year so yeah
we’re gonna say hello to him but he was
on our show it’s great to have him
look at these guys here you go that’s my
husband in the front
all right in his name uh john brown
john okay nice john and jan good
yeah that’s tom mcnamara he’s our uh
uh writer’s president there in the front
right and uh so how many
how many uh members of amvets have
uh roughly active members as far as uh
on the veterans side about a quarter of
a million
really yeah give or take
so we’re not the biggest but we’re the
best
why you better say that hey
i belong to them all too so uh where was
this for when was this founded
uh 1946 i believe
oh really yes it was a world war ii
organization uh they later added korea
then vietnam
and uh in the 70s we changed our charter
to accept
any honorably discharged veteran
regardless of when they served
uh so long as it was after world war ii
so we also take guard and reserve
whether or not they were deployed and uh
it’s the most inclusive veteran service
organization there is
yeah it’s not that’s fair that’s good i
mean if you serve
you can still you could you could be
stationed at home for
five 20 years but you know what you were
there and ready ready to
ready to go right yeah you know i it’s a
funny thing i get a
a lot of i’ll see a guy and i’ll say uh
where’d you serve he goes oh i was in
germany i didn’t go to vietnam they sent
me to germany
well so what somebody had to do it you
know what i mean
it is uh i had a
young right after i retired i was
sitting at a bar and i was talking to
this guy and
he was telling me about his brother how
his brother was a combat veteran and i
said
then he talked about him being in the
air force and i said well you’re
eligible
he goes oh no i i’m not a veteran i
didn’t serve in combat
and i just looked at him and i said you
sound like my my women veterans who say
that because they didn’t serve in combat
they’re not veterans
or if you wore the uniform and served
honorably you were a veteran
right yesterday so it seems like they
have this
guilt trip you know what i mean that
that that is laid upon him and it’s hard
to get away from it it seems
but you you somebody had to be in
germany somebody had to be in korea
somebody had to be behind the lines
somebody had to be in guam somebody had
to be in panama
and somebody had to be in the states so
hey you know
the vietnam era stuff i don’t i don’t go
for that stuff
yeah you know them they they served and
and now they’re
they’re proud members so what else does
amvets do
oh well we uh like most veteran service
organizations we have service officers
throughout the country that help
veterans
file claims for disabilities
we have a a very large americanism
program in our
our elementary middle and and high
schools
uh we’re very active with freedom’s
foundation
uh everything’s been kind of slow this
year because of
code as is everything uh
we’re still not all back in the building
yet it’s kind of
hit and miss and uh prince george county
is still kind of locked down a little
bit but
uh we’re starting to lift up a little
bit we
our our mission is is just to serve our
members and
and other veterans and their families uh
my little post in strothers ohio where i
belong
uh you know we uh during the
uh the shutdown you know the quarantines
we did
a number of food giveaways uh
and we sir we we tried to reserve like
the first two hours for veterans then
after that it was anybody in the
community who needed food
and uh we did that i think five times
over the last year that’s really decent
and a lot
and a lot of posted things like that and
um
you know we try to like we do
work with our local police departments
and fire departments uh
shop with the cops every christmas uh
you know we host
we host those kind of things but and a
lot of stuff we do is legislative we
we are uh when the hill is open
uh we had we try to uh we’re up there
every spring pounding on the hill
uh for uh legislative items that we want
for our veterans
all right for our non-dc people tell
them what the hill is
the hill is uh capitol hill um capitol
hill uh
we visit our congressmen and senators
and we break up we have about
200 people that hit the hill all at once
and
the guards call it march madness
so uh but we get up there and we try to
get the ear of it
we try to visit every single office on
the hill and uh
last last time we got to go we were
asked to leave
because that was when they when they
first started shutting down
apparently there had been a couple
people on the hill that had contracted
uh
the coronavirus and we were asked to
leave
and uh okay well i don’t know if i asked
you i
don’t think i did what did you do in in
the service
i started out as a medical lab
technician
and then i uh retrained in
i was a uh aeromedical evacuation
technician
uh on 130s and then i spent my last 15
years as a recruiter
good old 130s used to jump into that
thing that was a
animal yeah i still know that airplane
inside and out yeah they still fly over
my house yeah
stewart air force base up here in
newburgh yep yeah
still inactive uh i was on a b
and h models i didn’t know all the
difference but all i know is c130
yeah they’re pretty much insane they’re
just decked out in the inside
a little differently the thing is i’ve
never landed one
you never landed it
[Music]
well anyhow anything else you’d like to
say before we sign off
i would i anybody that is interested in
uh
coming to rowling to remember uh
volunteering at rolling to remember
writing
you can find out what you need at
rollingto remember.com
or amvets.org
and there’s a link on the amvets to the
rolling to remember
uh pretty much anything if you can leave
a question
you can call the central number and uh
ask a question i’ll probably end up
answering but we’ll try to get
try to get everybody anybody’s questions
answered so
okay now we have a question and answer
session okay well comments whatever
whatever
[Music]
all righty what do we got here matt
jim harris thank you soldier for your
service and sacrifice i hate to be
negative but it just burns me up
the lack of cooperation from the
pentagon and our government should be
doing everything possible that can make
this event
possible it’s disgusting but i applaud
organizers for
still despite the lack of cooperation
making it happen thank you
i appreciate that sentiment it’s been
frustrating
but we’re we decided we were going to
make it happen
and quite frankly the police uh
there’s like six different jurisdictions
right in this area
they don’t want a hundred thousand
motorcyclists because they were coming
anyway
and they don’t want them riding around
you know
we have controlled chaos that would just
be chaos so
right you’re right you know you’re right
so
you know at least we have a starting and
an ending point with us
you know otherwise it’s just people
riding around yeah like this all over
okay
next question or comment where can
someone register
for the ride to remember going to
remember or find your info
so that would be at
rollingtonremember.com and
that we have our own webpage for that
and there’s also a facebook page with
almost instant updates and also ruling
to remember
great okay anything else matt
uh i guess that oh going to remember.com
okay that came up that’s good
people could see that
okay we want to thank you very much well
thank you
you have any questions any answer
i now that i know where did you serve in
vietnam
oh gee uh landed in benoit
uh trucked over to coochie
spent the month there then we flew up to
uh fubai
and then trucked into lz sally elsie
jane
then ld zalia camp evans and i core up
at the dmz in asia valley
you were all over you you got the
country tour
yeah more or less yeah yeah well thank
you
thank you for your service and thank you
for doing this this uh live broadcast
everyone well yeah
no it’s great my son had the idea and
he’s the tech guy i’m the
resource guy and uh that’s what we do
you know what i mean
it’s like people like you and all the
other guests we had on from
corman to pilots to chopper pilots to
grunts to you name it supplies supply
clerks
and uh uh association
uh presidents you know things like that
like yourself
as well as not just being a veteran but
right yeah it’s uh we try to bring
a total uh to fill the whole circle with
the family
so this is this is on every wednesday
night at eight
at 8 30. eastern 20 30. very good
time correct i will look for it it was
hard to pick a time
it’s on and you’ll see it on the on
youtube
or else the vietnam veterans photo club
that’s our main uh facebook page has
about 85 000 members
and then we have another four or five
website uh facebook pages that matt’s
put together and we have another 50 or
60 000 members
with those so all together between about
150 175 000
people that’s wonderful see our stuff
yeah we gotta
i don’t know i i just took uh
i had kodak instamatic
cartridges in my ammo pouches with
chuckles and life boy soap
life life point yeah like for sure yeah
and i was trading more stuff and having
ammo so the guy wanted candy they had to
give me a clip
so you laughed i took it oh i believe it
i took about
800 photographs i have everything from
my
uh travel orders back and forth to
vietnam i have uh
my medical card still i have uh shot
records
uh all kinds of orders all kinds of
pictures or
the christmas menu from uh president
johnson i guess it was at the time
we have that we have the thanksgiving
menu on the
in the in the bar top at our post there
you go
from when my husband was in vietnam that
the thanksgiving menu is there so
yeah that’s sweet good for you thank you
very much
thank you and
welcome home sister thank you
and thank you every much out there just
uh make sure to check us out on
veterans live show and also the uh
vietnam book fall never forgotten
you can see that somewhere sometime on a
website uh via fallennetforgotten.com
and hope to see you next week and if you
want to be on the show
just write us at vietnam veterans photo
club
and send your pictures in as well thank
you very much god bless you
and welcome home
