Motorcycle ride to honor veterans, raise money for scholarships
By GERI PARLIN | La Crosse Tribune


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If you ride a motorcycle, here’s a chance to honor veterans.

The Veterans Memorial Ride will be Saturday, June 7.
It will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the armory in Onalaska, Wis., with the doors opening at 3:30 p.m. Leading the ride will be former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Riders will head to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex, where there will be a program honoring veterans at 6 p.m., then a concert with the Remainders at 7 p.m. and actor Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $25 for general admission, $45 for preferred seating in the grandstand and $125 for VIP seating and parking. For tickets, go to the event Web site at www.vetsride.com and click on the Ticketmaster logo.

Because the ride and concert are funded by Logistics Health, all proceeds from tickets will go to a veterans scholarship fund to attend any UW system school and toward the veterans’ Hall of Honor, said Diana Henry, LHI’s communications manager.

“They’re not paying to see Gary Sinise,” she said. “They’re paying for the scholarships and the Hall of Honor. We’re not charging for the ride portion of it. We are only charging for the concert.”

During the 6 p.m. program, there will be a salute to veterans, in particular, veteran Brent Ewing of Westby, Wis.

Ewing joined the Army in 1990 and was stationed in Hawaii for five years. In 1997, he left active duty and joined the Army Reserves, stationed at the Onalaska Armory with the Army Reserves. He was with them until 2000, when he started recruiting for the Army Reserves in Winona, Minn., staying with that job until 2004, when he started recruiting for the National Guard in Viroqua.

He is still stationed in Viroqua but is in the process of becoming medically retired after discovering he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“I was diagnosed last year. It started out feeling like I was lazy and out of shape. I had lots of weight loss and muscle degeneration, the kind of stuff you would notice. Since then, I’ve been on medical leave.”

He said he doesn’t know what he will do now that he can’t work. For him, the military just felt right and he enjoyed connecting recruits with the right job.

“It seemed like the right thing to do. It felt like the right fit,” he said of recruiting. “I enjoyed watching the smiles come across their faces,” he said, when he would match them up with the right job. “I miss talking to the new recruits.”

Along with honoring Ewing, there will be a tribute to fallen heroes from Wisconsin and a video montage showing every service member from Wisconsin who has died in Iraq and Afghanistan. There will also be the presenting of colors, a flyover by vintage war planes from the 1940s, and groundbreaking for the new stadium and sports complex.

This ride and Sinise’s concert will be the kickoff for what is to become an annual fund-raising event in La Crosse to raise money for the Hall of Honor for Veterans at UW-L.

Geri Parlin can be reached at gparlin@lacrossetribune.com

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