RumbleQuake III will be Saturday, Nov. 8, starting with a motorcade tribute beginning at 11 a.m. at the Salisbury National Cemetery Annex.

Organizer Burgess Bailey of Statesville hopes to have 2,000 motorcycles and 200 vans in the parade to his family farm, where the North Carolina traveling Vietnam memorial wall be on display and a number of programs will honor veterans from all wars, but especially Vietnam veterans.

Bailey calls the motorcade the parade Vietnam vets never had. His driving force is a Department of Veterans Affairs statistic that says a veteran commits suicide every 65 minutes; many of those vets are from the Vietnam era. Bailey wants to reach out to them, offer them hope and let them know people are proud of their service.

The motorcade will travel along the Purple Heart Trail through downtown Statesville, arriving at The BOAT, Bailey’s farm, in the Bailey Hills community of Statesville, around noon.

The trip will focus on 11 counties in the area, including Rowan, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba, Alexander, Wilkes, Yadkin and Davie.

Bailey never served in the armed forces, but his son is a Marine.

Gov. Pat McCrory has issued a proclamation that Nov. 8 be Rumblequake III Day in North Carolina, supporting the event.

Bailey clicked on an idea to have photos of all the veterans, “trying to connect the dots, we get the names and pictures and maps together that shows who’s who and where they’re from, and a map of where they got killed in Vietnam.

“What struck me when we put this display up, we’re asking guys to show us where they served. They open up and start telling you all kinds of things.”

Bailey, who has taken the display to the Statesville mall and Troutman, says It was serendipity that this happened.

“It comes back to the core of why we’re doing this, for these guys, releasing some pent-up frustrations over the years,” trying to tie in to “that thing of forgiveness.

“Another thing we’re saying is the hard feelings, the unforgiveness, impacts your health. We have to change that. Add years to your life and life to your years.”

Bailey puts his faith in healing in “the good Lord above, with the intermediate steps being what we’re trying to do.”

“You have to acknowledge you do have a problem, grieve that loss, then forgive the other person, whoever, then forgive yourself.”

On Sunday, Nov. 9, Bailey says someone will address those needs, and veterans and families can sit in their cars and listen to it on the radio, like a drive-in theater.

Bailey is asking churches to put veterans on church vans to ride in the motorcade. He would like people to invite vets who don’t have a church to ride in a van. “That’s where the outreach comes in.

“This is much bigger than me … it’s gaining a lot of momentum. This is an idea whose time has come.” Bailey calls it the Ride of Pride.

“Our goal is to restore the pride of those guys who did their job. The motorcycles are there to get attention, but the why is for those guys who served in Nam.”

Displays will be set up for five days and events will be filmed and replayed each night on a big screen at the farm.

On Friday, Nov. 7, the site will be open from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. for volunteers, families of Vietnam casualties and Vietnam veterans. It will open to the public at 4 p.m. There will be a tribute to veterans at 5. At 6, a movie dealing with forgiveness and the impact of anger on health will be shown, along with information about suicide and understanding the emotional impact of war on the soldier and his or her family.

Saturday, Nov. 8, the motorcade leaves from the National Cemetery Annex in Salisbury at 11; balloons will be released at the same time. The displays will be open all day and the same film will be shown at 8 p.m.

On Sunday the 9th, the special program about forgiveness will be at 2:30 p.m., with displays open throughout the day.

Monday and Tuesday, the displays will be open for 24 hours, and the film of the Rumblequake will be shown at 6 both nights. The film on forgiveness plays both nights at 8 p.m.

Displays will come down on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

For more detailed information, check out www.therumblequake.com or contact Bailey at 704-500-1621.