CLEVELAND ó Freightliner’s Ride of Pride procession leaves from Cleveland Friday morning after a ceremony and flyover by a Black Hawk helicopter.
The ceremony begins at 7:30 a.m., and then the seventh specially decorated truck begins its journey to Washington D.C.
Eventually, hundreds of motorcyclists will join the procession on the annual trip to the Capitol to honor veterans, POWs and MIAs.
The one-of-a-kind truck leading the way is a Freightliner Cascadia, customized with symbols of America and the Armed Forces. Designed by employees at the Cleveland truck manufacturing plant, the 2008 Ride of Pride will tour the state in May, making stops to pay tribute in several North Carolina communities before making the Memorial Day weekend trip to join Rolling Thunder, a national group that honors veterans.
Ed Keeter, a shift manager at Freightliner’s Cleveland plant and a Vietnam War veteran, said the idea for the ride came in 2001 ó before the war in Iraq ó when he and other employees were looking for a way to honor veterans as Memorial Day approached.
Initially, the idea was to decorate a Freightliner truck and drive it to the Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury. “When we approached the plant manager, he was very supportive. With all the volunteer support, the idea just blossomed and we decided to go all the way to Washington, D.C., and back,” Keeter said.
Freightliner employees volunteer their time to design the artwork and coordinate the 400-mile ride. This year’s truck features an American flag, a bald eagle, the POW-MIA emblem and symbols from each military division. The decals decorate the orange cab owned by Schneider National, Inc., of Green Bay, Wis., which will add it to its nationwide fleet.
Last year’s driver, Lowell Wilderman, a 22-year Navy veteran and 19-year employee at Schneider National, said serving as driver in the procession was an honor.
“Everybody asks me if the truck is mine. So I tell them that it’s everybody’s truck, for what it stands for,” Wilderman said.
“This event brings great pride to everyone involved in it. The truck has high visibility on the road, which helps us honor our fallen heroes,” said Lamando Parker, an employee at the Cleveland plant who is heading back to Iraq this summer.
While in Washington, volunteers will visit Washington Hospital Center to host a party for veterans and hand out gift bags filled with items donated by Daimler Benz employees in North and South Carolina.
On Sunday, the group will join a procession through the capital with nearly a million motorcyclists participating in the Ride for Freedom, sponsored by Rolling Thunder, a national nonprofit with 80 chapters dedicated to publicizing POW-MIA issues.