Name: Terry McCollum
E-Mail: supercoach@wyoming.com
Phone: 307-259-5464
City: Casper
State: Wyoming
FNG Story:
My wife and I joined the Central Route in Goodland, KS. I have trouble expressing myself in long letters so this one will be pretty short.
What can you say about this ride except beyond believe. From the dinner and welcome in Goodland, from the very fine people there, to the very end and being one of the few that got to ride thru Arlington. It was extremely emotional for me.
Some people call me Rotorhead, thanks to my being a helicopter pilot in RVN. On Oct 31, ’68 one of my helicopters crashed and all 10 on board were killed. Back when I was flying for the state of Wyoming I had been to DC and made a trip to the wall and had the opertunity to leave a couple of items at that time so I didn’t think I would feel the urge to leave anything this time. Well when I got to my panel I didn’t have anything to leave. Thanks to Tail Gunner Nich, and Charley not only had my back but dug deep in their pockets and found something for me to leave. Thanks gentlemen I owe you.
Rolling Thunder was more relaxed for me than the emotional High I had been on for the preceding week. What a massive number of Motorcycles and there was just about as many parked along The Mall as was riding.
What a wonderful experience. The two that were closest to me was our Platoon Leader Grumpy (Terri) and our Tail Gunner Nich. Their only concern for the entire ride was our safety. Nich you can yell at me any time I do something wrong cause it came from the heart. THANK YOU. I am totally convinced that the major pre-qualification for Road Guards is to be INSANE. Thank you for all of your hard work.
From the planners, state coordinators, fuel crews, road guards, platoon leaders, tail gunners, chase vehicles, chaplins, and especially the people that took the time out of their busy lives to skip work and come out and cheer us on and say “WELCOME HOME,” thank you, thank you, thank you. To
everyone I forgot thank you too.
Now a note to the old warriors that served back during the Viet Nam era, we have a duty an obligation to our young brothers and sisters serving today. Make it a point to say THANK YOU and shake their hand. Make sure they get their WELCOME HOME when they return, not 30 or 40 years later. If you have made it to here, thank you for reading the ramblings of an old War Horse.
Rotorhead
Terry and Dianna McCollum
Blue Gold Wing Trike
