Archive: Around Town

The "2nd Annual Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway of Valor Tribute Ride", formed up in Marvin Park in Owego beginning at 7am on Saturday, July 17th. Three hundred and sixty motorcycles of every color and every make, plus cars, trucks and military vehicles left the park at 10am bound for Groton on Route 38. They arrived in Groton around 11am where they stopped for gas, food and to pay tribute to 2nd Lieutenant Terrance Graves, USMC, a posthumously awarded recipient of the Metal Of Honor for his action in the Vietnam War.


A short ceremony was held honoring Graves, with the guest speaker being Gary Watrous, vice president of the Groton Bank. Watrous, a former 1st Lieutenant with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam went on to describe his childhood friend Terrance Graves as a fine athlete in many sports, but also a man who had made up his mind early that he was going to be a Marine, and that he did that in the finest tradition of the United State marine Corps.


AT 1pm the police escorted Tribute Ride, plus the fifty or so vehicles that joined them in Groton left for the sixty mile trip to Fair Haven, but the ride had to be stopped on the west shore of Owasco Lake. Although it was a hot summer day powerful thunder storms with hail were ripping through northern Cayuga County, which was a major safety concern for people on motorcycles.

After a twenty minute wait, the over four hundred vehicles in the ride moved on past many flag waving,cheering people along side of the highway.With the police escort they quickly moved on through the City of Auburn to their final destination of the Cayuga Street Park in the village of Fair Haven.


The Fair Haven Chamber of Commerce had arranged a park pavilion for the arrival, with food and drink and also a band, "Pink Cadillac" Another ceremony was held in the pavilion conducted by Chapter 704, Vietnam Veterans of America, honoring posthumously awarded Medal of Honor recipient SP-4 Robert Stryker, US Army, for his heroic action in the Vietnam War.

According the Tribute Ride organizers, "The Tribute Ride was intended to draw attention to the fact that Route 38 is now named, " Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway of Valor" and also to raise money to purchase signs to go up along the 98 mile route, so that people know the highway they are on, was named to honor Vietnam Veterans from New York State."
 
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