Published: July 10, 2009 08:04 am      

Veteran's Thunder Motorcycle Ride rolls into town Saturday

Everyone needs a hero.

For one Vietnam veteran that hero is Ron Dyer, president and founding member of the Cumberland County Vietnam Veterans chapter.

"I'm not ashamed to tell you this man is my hero. With what he did, getting the Welcome Home (event) together — I will never forget it — He saved my life," Larry Bates of Monterey said.

Bates, who is nicknamed "Tin Man" due to the leg braces and crutches he is forced to wear, says the Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home event in 2008 and earlier this year gave him a reason to want to live.

"I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and have been fighting cancer. I was in a wheelchair, but I've gotten better, I've gotten on the crutches and it's because of this," he said as he put his arm around Dyer's neck.

Bates met Dyer at the Waffle House in Crossville a few years ago.

"I overheard these guys, Vietnam vets, talking about organizing this event. I went up to him and I said, 'I want to be a part of it, whatever you're planning,'" Bates said.

Bates and Dyer became friends and the group of vets soon began affectionately calling Bates the Tin Man.

"I'm proud to be called by that name," he said.

"We all had nicknames in Vietnam and we all have them here, too," Dyer said.

Dyer is known as "Scooter" for his love of motorcycles and riding.

The two recently met at the Waffle House to share some memories and talk about the upcoming Veteran's Thunder Motorcycle Ride.

The Cumberland County Vietnam Veterans will host its second annual Veteran's Thunder Day ride this Saturday, July 11. The group will meet beginning at 8 a.m. at Buddy's Beef and Dogs in the Cumberland Plaza shopping center at the corner of Main St. and Genesis Rd. "Anyone is welcome to ride and you don't have to be a Vietnam veteran to ride. You can ride in honor of any veteran of any war," Dyer said.

The motorcycle ride will be 100 percent escorted through each county from Crossville to South Pittsburg, TN. The ride leaves at 10 a.m. There is a $10 per rider donation for the ride and all proceeds raised go toward funding the 2010 Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Reunion. The date of the reunion is scheduled for June 5 - 6 in Crossville.

"This is a good, pretty ride and we spend the day down there in Pittsburg. They honor the vets and feed us and we all have a real good time down there," Dyer said.

"What that Welcome Home event has done for me ... Well, I can't put it into words," Bates said. "Welcome Home. I never thought I'd hear that. It means so much," he said with tears in his eyes.

Bates has a son who is a veteran of the war in Iraq.

"I'm so proud of him. I know this war has been tough on all of them. I'm glad they are being treated better and welcomed home, but I know it's still tough on them," Bates said.

"This run we're having will help us with the costs of next year's Welcome Home reunion. We want to keep it going every year and do the right thing for the Vietnam veterans. It's a healing. To be able to help these guys and get them together to talk about it is amazing ... We did what we were asked to do. We were proud and what kept pushing us was that we had a tradition to live up to for all of those veterans who went and died before us," Dyer said.

For more information about Saturday's Veteran's Thunder Motorcycle Ride, call Ron Dyer at 335-7245.