Mickey

"Mickey and that bike are generating more press and people interaction than anything I've seen 
in years... Mickey's personal presentation as a Nam vet and his continued vested interest in 
demanding a full-accounting is being better received by the media... everything I answered was 
apparently not what the press wants to hear"
                                          Donna Elliot (sister of Sgt Jerry W. Elliot, POW/MIA 1968)

INDIAN® MOTORCYCLE PARTICIPATES IN ANNUAL “RUN FOR THE WALL” EVENT TO HONOR MIAs AND POWs

-- Indian®Chief® to be available for bidding on eBay Motors with profits to benefit POW-related charity --

Gilroy, California – May 13, 2003 – Mickey Domingue, a long-time Indian employee and Vietnam Veteran, will ride a special custom-painted Indian® Chief® motorcycle on his ten-day cross-country ride honoring POWs and MIAs in this year’s 14^th annual “Run for the Wall” event. With great pride, employees at the Indian Motorcycle factory, some veterans themselves, pitched in on weekends so that Mickey could ride with over 200,000 motorcyclists on this special ten-day ride across America to reach the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. on the Friday evening before Memorial Day. They will then ride through the streets of our capitol in the Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Parade to reach the Wall at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial on Sunday, May 25th.

Mickey Domingue will ride a 2002 Indian Chief with this Moving Wall version of the “Last Known Alive” when he departs from Ontario, California on May 14.  Photos of the two men on the gas tanks of his customized bike are Sergeant Jerry W. Elliot, MIA January 1, 1968, Khe Sahn, and Captain Michael S. Speicher, POW, January 17, 1991, Iraq.  The bike will be available for bidding on eBay Motors  between May 30^th and June 8^th with all profits benefiting the POW Network, a non-profit organization which focuses on POW and MIA issues.  More information regarding the event can be found at www.indianmotorcycle.com/powbike.

”Its been over 30 years since I served in Vietnam, 1967-68, Khe Sahn, and through the years, I’ve battled my own demons, but I found out about the ride three years ago and it has changed my life,” said Mickey Domingue, “These riders are my brothers and we support one another – we’ve all been through similar experiences. When you’re standing at the Wall it is an emotional experience, and we are there for one another to go through it. It has meant a lot to me to introduce the young guys into this group and it’s something I’ll do for the rest of my life.”

Lou Terhar, President of Indian Motorcycle Corporation commented, “We’ve been lucky to have Mickey with us for many years now – we are all proud Americans, and as a fellow Vietnam Veteran, I am a big supporter of this event. The Indian team has had a lot of fun contributing their time and energy to produce one heck of a bike that Mickey would be proud to ride.”

RFTW began in 1989 as an effort by a couple of Vietnam Veterans who traveled across the heartland of America on motorcycles creating awareness about the thousands of men and women still unaccounted for from all of our wars.  Last year, over 200,000 motorcycles participated.

WLBT TV, Jackson, MS

Bikers Ride for Missing Veterans
05/19/03

By Dawn Russell
dawn@wlbt.net

If you were in downtown Jackson Monday afternoon, it was hard to miss the caravan of motorcyclists. More than a hundred bikers from across the nation stopped in Jackson as part of the annual "Run for the Wall." 

It's the most admired bike on this ride. The P.O.W. and M.I.A. motorcycle sums up what these bikers are doing and why. 

Mickey Domingue of California, who designed the bike, says, "There are 324 names on the fender...all seen alive at P.O.W. camps and crash sites. They were alive. Why didn't they come home with us." 

Domingue is a Vietnam Veteran himself. He's one of over a hundred bikers traveling cross country from California to Washington D.C. on the "Run for the Wall."

Domingue says, "We need to continue to fight to find out more about people still captured and get closure for their families." 

A picture on the back bumper of Domigue's bike is of Staff Sergeant Jerry Elliot, a Vietnam veteran from Greenville, Mississippi. 

Domingue says, "He went on a rescue mission with a choppers. He was last seen alive at the crash site."

Elliott's sister, Donna, also makes this trip each year to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington. 

Elliott says, "A lot of times at the wall, you find people looking for each other." 

Domingue says, "It's a healing everyone should do. It was my time." 

And patriotic ceremonies along the way like this one at the Jackson Harley Davidson shop mean the world to these veterans...especially getting to meet a World War II hero like Mississippian Jack Lucas, the youngest medal of honor recipient. 

Lucas says, "It's people like this that wake people up and remind them of the debt we owe our veterans." 

And many of these bikers, veterans themselves, say they will never give up hope that their fellow soldiers will come home. But until then they say they'lll ride for those who can't."

The bikers will arrive in Washington D.C. Friday where they will take part in Memorial Day events for the next few days. Meantime, between May 30th and June 8th, you can bid on the "Run for the Wall" motorcycle on E-bay. All proceeds go the P.O.W. Network. Visit www.indianmotorcycle.com/powbike for details. 

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?s=1285367