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Supporting Troops 700 Times

BY WILLIAM TRIPLETT

“Support our troops.” It’s been a familiar phrase for a long time. You see it on bumper stickers, you hear it on television. For some, it’s just the right thing to say. But for many others, it’s a sincere declaration.

Then there’s the Lynchburg Rally.

Every Friday starting at noon—for almost seven hundred consecutive Fridays now—a group of veterans, including VVA members, meets at the street-side base of Memorial Terrace in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia, and stages a rally in honor of the millions of men and women wearing U.S. military uniforms. They set up signs saying things like, “Thank God for Our Troops,” and “Honk if U Support Troops.” They hoist American flags, some of which have flown in Iraq or Afghanistan. They make a point of talking with the many passers-by who are drawn to the activity.

“When someone walks up with a perplexed look, I go up and tell them what’s going on and invite them to stick around,” says David Stokes, president of Lynchburg Chapter 196.

What’s going on is essentially a weekly ritual of reminding the public that, regardless of one’s political beliefs, American servicemen and women deserve recognition and appreciation. “We’re non-political, non-sectarian, and we’re veterans from different wars,” Stokes says. Those who fought in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan are all represented. But veteran status isn’t required: Anyone who wants to be part of the rally is welcome.

Among the roughly thirty to forty people who show up every Friday, about ten are VVA members, Stokes says. In fact, the event was started by Stokes’s predecessor as Chapter 196 president, Steve Bozeman. In November 2001, shortly after U.S. forces began bombing the Taliban in Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks, people protesting the bombing gathered at Memorial Terrace, home to memorials for veterans of conflicts dating back to the Civil War. “It’s sacred ground for us,” Stokes says.

Bozeman quickly organized a Friday counter-protest at Memorial Terrace. Veterans and non-veterans turned out to demonstrate their support for troops in harm’s way. Bozeman and others continued to come back every Friday, and eventually the protesters moved on. But the communal spirit of support for America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines was so strong that the Friday meeting developed a life of its own. “No one in their wildest imagination ever dreamed it would go on this long,” Stokes says.

The rally has a lot of public support, even from the municipal ticket-writers. Because parking in the area during the rally can be tough, they are usually generally scrupulously busy generating revenue for city hall. “But a lot of the meter people have friends or family who are veterans and fought in wars,” Stokes says. “They don’t even bother taking down any license plate numbers while we’re there.”

The rally officially ends at 1:00, when everyone recites the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” (on a boom box), a salute of the flag, and the benediction. One week later, it all happens again—with a lot of the same faces.

“My wife says I’ll probably die at Memorial Terrace,” Stokes says. That’s some pretty serious support.