N.C. veterans will join national group
to protect Wall, support troops
By C.J. Raven
U.S. Veteran Dispatch
February 09, 2007
KINSTON, N.C. -- Veterans from across the U.S. who gather at the
Vietnam Wall in
Washington on March 17 to guard the monument can expect support from their buddies in
Lenoir County, N.C.
Thousands of veterans are expected to surround the Wall when as many as 100,000 anti-war protesters,
led by Jane Fonda and Cindy Sheehan, march from that site to the Pentagon on St. Patrick's Day. A
smaller number of veterans will add moral support by staging a 24-hour vigil at Kinston's (N.C.)
version of the Wall in Neuseway Park.
"Those who cannot go to Washington can show their support for the vets at our memorial here,"
said Vietnam veteran Eric Cantu. "We will show our support for the troops in Iraq."
Counter-protesters in Washington expect the anti-war demonstrators to attempt to deface the
Wall. Veterans of several wars, their friends and other Americans will protect the iconic
monument and show their support for troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, said U.S. Army
Col. Harry Riley, an organizer of the national counter-protest Gathering of Eagles.
Kinston will become one of several sites across the U.S. where veterans who cannot travel to
Washington will demonstrate their support for the Wall and the troops.
"Any veteran or individual who wants to show support can come out to our memorial here just as
if we were in D.C.," Cantu said. "Our soldiers in Iraq deserve honor and support. We don't want
to see these veterans get treated the way we were when we came back from Vietnam."
Fonda and Sheehan led a similar anti-war protest in January. The marchers spray-painted the
steps of the Capitol, raising the ire of many Americans, but were not stopped by Capitol police.
Riley believes Fonda-Sheehan group plans to target the Wall during the March demonstration.
National Park police have said they will arrest any person who makes such an attempt. Rolling
Thunder, the national organization of motorcycle-riding veterans who gather in Washington
every year on Memorial Day, has agreed to form a barrier between the protesters and the
monument.
For an exchange of information, visit and join the Gathering of
Eagles message board.
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