More than 1,000 bikers revved their engines and strapped on the leather chaps to hit the road, but not before they heard first from III Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, who organized the motorcycle rally.
Lynch, who was embraced by III Corps Command Sgt. Maj. Neal Ciotola, said there was a dual purpose to the Motorcycle Rally.
The most important of those Lynch said, was motorcycle safety.
“I refuse to allow soldiers who survive the trials and tribulations of combat, only to come back and die on the highways of Central Texas. I refuse to let that happen,” Lynch said
Of course, honoring veterans was also an important part of this event. Veterans Day is Tuesday, commemorating the end of World War I.
Participants did that with a stop at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, where Lynch, Ciotola and all of those who rode with them, stopped and placed a wreath to honor fallen veterans.
Before any engine was started, Lynch thanked the veterans who were participating in this event.
“Today, we pay respect to you. Today, we want to tell you we love you,” Lynch said.
Many of those veterans were participating to give a little something back to those who are serving right now.
“I just wanted to honor our servicemen,” said Henry Hecker of Burnet, a member of the Central Texas Chapter of the Patriot Guard.
He was one of 250 members of that organization who suited up and mounted their bikes to participate.
So was Debbie Plumber of Canton, near Dallas.
“This means a great deal. It brings tears to my eyes,” she said. “I am very, very proud.”
However, for Plumber and her husband, it was also something of a homecoming.
“My husband was stationed out here back in the 1970s, and this is the first time he’s gotten to come back,” she said.
For some of those riders, Fort Hood is still home.
Nearby, Sgt. 1st Class Elvin Gonzales was sending a text message as he sat on the edge of his bike.
Gonzales, who has biked for 20 years, said participating in a rally like this allows him to do something he loves and fosters espirit de corps among the troops and some of their fellow civilian bikers.
By contrast, Staff Sgt. April Martinez has only had her new motorcycle for about a week.
“I’ve had a scooter for about a year, so I upgraded recently,” she said.
Martinez said she’d done a couple of unit rides with her old bike and that had been a little embarrassing to her.
“They always put me in front. We’d all truck down 190 and I’d be going 60 - as fast as I could,” she said. “I finally went out and got a motorcycle so I could keep up with the big bikes.”
In her spare time, Martinez rides with her husband, also an active duty soldier, so motorcycle safety is an important issue.
Martinez said having a ride that not only promotes safety, but honors veterans, fills her with a sense of pride.
“I think that is important to us all,” she said. “I hope this is an annual thing.”
At 11 a.m. the engines on 1,124 motorcycles created their own thunder as they motored through the streets of Fort Hood, and out the east gate down Fort Hood Road.
Law enforcement officials from Killeen, Nolanville and Morgan’s Point, as well as military police from Fort Hood, helped with traffic control through the gate and onto Texas Highway 95 to the cemetery.
Lynch, who led the way on this first-ever ride, unfurled the flag emblazoned with the three stars of a lieutenant general from the back of his Harley Davidson.
The three-star flag fluttered ahead of bikers who themselves had fastened the Stars and Stripes or Texas’ Lone Star banner to their bikes.
Shortly after they left the post, they slowed their bikes as they rolled into the first and only stop of their journey: The Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery.
The bikes filed in slowly and filled nearly the entire driveway that wound through the cemetery.
Lynch and the bikers of Phantom Thunder were greeted by busloads of soldiers and residents from the surrounding communities.
City officials participated alongside the soldiers and civilians.
Killeen City Manager Connie Green and Mayor Tim Hancock joined hundreds at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery to observe the ceremony, but Councilman Juan Rivera, who was also in attendance, didn’t just come for the ceremony, he came to ride with the troops.
“It was really an honor to ride with a group like this one,” Rivera said. “This says a lot about our community and about our soldiers.”
