REGION: Local vets join hundreds in annual Run for the Wall to D.C.

By GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Tuesday, May 13, 2008 5:55 PM PDT ∞

Like many veterans returning from Vietnam, there were no yellow ribbons waiting for Ed Brundage.

"I tried going back to school," he said about 1969, when he returned after a 13-month deployment. "It was hard being a veteran at the time. I ended up dropping out of school and coming back into the service."

He put the nasty comments he heard in 1969 behind him, burying the memories alongside his emotions, and returned to the Corps. He retired as a master sergeant in 1991.

"I just internalized all those things," he said about his past feelings. "Then, a good friend of mine said, 'If you want a very healing event, then you need to make this run.'"

His friend was talking about the annual Run for the Wall, a 10-day, cross-country motorcycle trip that began 20 years ago to raise awareness about veterans of foreign wars who still are missing.

Now in its 20th year, the ride has grown to about 1,800 riders who choose either a southern or central route across the nation. The ride ends May 25, the Sunday before Memorial Day, when the bikers reach the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, or the Wall. From there, they join the even larger Rolling Thunder, which has grown to more than 300,000 motorcyclists who parade from the Pentagon to Washington, D.C.

This morning, Brundage and fellow 1st Marine Division veterans Len Hayes and Bill Mimiaga will join other Run for the Wall riders in Rancho Cucamonga, where the ride will launch.

The three are the core members of the Blue Diamond Riders, formed this year by the Oceanside-based 1st Marine Division Association. Named after the 1st Marine Division's logo, the Blue Diamond Riders will raise money for a new scholarship fund to benefit children and grandchildren of division veterans who are fully disabled, deceased or missing in action.

Mimiaga said he doesn't know how many other veterans will have joined the Blue Diamond Riders by today, but he expects the number to grow during the ride as the core group meet other veterans. Money will be raised from other veterans and people they meet along the ride, he said.

Like Brundage, Mimiaga said he did not feel appreciated when he returned from Vietnam 30 years ago. But the years since have brought calmer heads and an evolved view of veterans, which Mimiaga said he has seen in his previous six rides with Run for the Wall.

"It's not only bringing awareness of POWs and MIAs, but it's a healing process," he said. "You've never seen so much hugging and crying and welcoming home."

Mimiaga, a middle school teacher from Costa Mesa, said participating in the Run for the Wall was a life-changing experience.

"You feel more connected," he said. "You put things in a proper perspective. Things are more meaningful, if you will. More things have substance. People have substance."

As Run for the Wall makes it way across the country, riders stop at veterans' hospitals, schools and memorials, sometimes riding through small towns that give them a heroes welcome. Mimiaga described people waving American flags from overpasses and bringing homemade potato salad to riders when they stopped.

"In a sense, for all those Vietnam veterans, this is their welcome home," he said. "It might be 40 years late, but at least they're getting it."

Brundage said he is looking forward to seeing the reception, and also to the more quiet moments when he gets to meet fellow veterans his age with shared experiences.

"It's just hard to sit down and talk to somebody who has not been in the middle of a conflict and has no understanding what it was like," he said.

Brundage, of Oceanside, said he also hopes to see a spirit he has only heard about.

"People say there's a lot out there that we never saw," he said. "We were focused on the ones who were against the war, but didn't see what we call the silent majority."

He also hopes to experience something similar to what his friend Mimiaga has described.

"I've heard it's a very, very healing ride," he said. "All we ever wanted to hear as individuals coming back from Vietnam was, 'Thanks for doing your best. We don't support the war, but it wasn't your fault.' But that's not what we heard."

Donations to the 1st Marine Division Scholarship Fund can be sent to: FMDA, 410 Pier View Way, Oceanside, CA 92054. For other donation information, call June Cormier at (760) 967-8561.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.