Sylvia Shomshor
Daily Dunklin Democrat
Having gotten word that the Moving Wall, a replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., was to be in Kennett, Poplar Bluff resident Ronald Humphrey hopped on his well-equipped bicycle and began pedaling his way to Kennett.
Born and raised in Poplar Bluff, Humphrey said he is a military man through-and-through. "I spent my life in the military and as you can tell, I love to travel about," he said pointing to his bicycle Ñ a bicycle that was equipped with a full-size auto battery to charge his stereo/cassette player. Along with him, Humphrey carried all he would need for the two-day trip from Poplar Bluff to Kennett.
Humphrey is a veteran of Vietnam, having enlisted right out of high school. He served with the Air Force in 1967 and 1968. "I was one of the lucky ones. I worked on the airplanes. I didn't fly them," he said.
With tears of remembrance streaming down his face, Humphrey said he come to the Wall to remember some old friends. "I've got a lot of friends on that Wall and it seems like yesterday that we were all together. Most of us were just young men, still wet behind the ears and that's the way some of them will stay Ñ forever young. Much too young to have died so soon," Humphrey said.
Humphrey said he would urge anyone to visit the memorial while it is in the Bootheel. "Those men deserve all the recognition they get and should be remembered in a very respectful manner," he said. And with that comment, he rode off into the horizon, like a scene from an old western movie & once a hero, always a hero.
Staff photo by Sylvia Shomshor
Ronald Humphrey gets ready to head back to Poplar Bluff from Kennett, after pedaling over to visit the Moving Wall memorial at the Delta Fairgrounds.
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