FORT GIBSON, Okla. — Veterans with the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association rode to the Fort Gibson National Cemetery to pay respect to fallen soldiers on this Memorial Day.
The Combat Veterans Association has organized the event for decades.
On Monday, nearly 200 bikers gathered in Wagoner to ride and remember fallen soldiers and future ones.
Katie Rodriguez's father, grandfather, and husband are all veterans. She is the Chapter Commander for CVMA 10-2 Auxiliary.
"Just remembering their sacrifice for all the things that we have and all the luxuries that we get to have in our everyday life," she explained. "This is to remember those guys and girls."
Rodriguez says she wouldn't miss that ride for the world.
"Personally, I feel like our veterans maybe don't get the necessary care that is required when they return from service," Rodriguez said.
But as chapter commander David Hinman thinks, care comes from camaraderie.
"From the outside, people just think we sit around and talk combat stories and that couldn't be further from the truth," Hinman said.
It's more than a patch.
"We've had people come up to us just out of the blue, stop by our table and tell us their war story and say crying and say they haven't told their wife that and they've been married 15 years," Hinman said. "If that's what it took to get it off their chest, that's what we're here for."
Rodriguez and Hinman couldn't be prouder to wear their patches on the hallowed ground of Fort Gibson National Cemetery.
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