VIETNAM VETS MOTORCYCLE CLUB: Castaways flies new flag

Wildman knows exactly how long he served in the U.S. Army.

The Green Valley resident -- who is also known as Ted DeYoung, recently from Colorado -- served his country for 20 years, six days, eight hours and five minutes.

That may seem like a long time, but consider his current situation.

He is a "prospect" for the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club. After this initiation, he will become a full-fledged member, but he'll also remain a "prospect for life." That's just the way they do things at the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club.

On May 27 Wildman joined about a hundred other people as the Las Vegas chapter of the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club and the Castaways Hotel Casino & Bowling Center dedicated a new Old Glory and a new POW/MIA flag.

As a prospect for the biker club, Wildman was called upon to take part in the ceremony. But, he said, he probably would have been there anyway.

What Wildman likes about the biker club is the camaraderie, the sense of belonging.

That's a common emotion among the group.

While there were lasting memories of several wars, the focus was on Vietnam. Especially, those who didn't come back.

Marcus "Carwash" Perry, an ordained minister who blessed the new flags, also spoke to that camaraderie, and and how it lends itself to veterans helping other veterans.

"We continue to serve our country the best way we can," he said. "We keep the issue alive, and we assist all vets."

The biker club's main issue is Americans still missing in action.

The latest count shows 1,981 American servicemen still unaccounted for in Vietnam and the surrounding seas. Eight of them are from Nevada.

Carwash said of the riders who wear the Vietnam Vets patch, "We are there helping the vets who may still be a little lost and may need a helping hand. Those who have returned from their desolate isolation, and those who have not."

He made it clear that the camaraderie is intense.

"I do not know what I would do without you," he told his fellow bikers from the podium, just before blessing the two new flags.

The familiar black flag of the National League of Families has become a unifying reminder of the plight of those missing soldiers and sailors.

That POW/MIA flag waves day and night at the Castaways on Boulder Highway.

Dennis Soukup, whose riding name is White Wolf, and who is the incoming president of the biker club, said the Castaways is the destination of the club's spring run.

The Castaways has become a home for the vets, White Wolf said. He's especially impressed that the MIA/POW flag flies all the time.

Michael Villamor, who has owned the Castaways since March 2000, said after the ceremony he wanted to make sure the vets and the bikers knew they were welcome at his establishment, which used to be called the Showboat.

In March, on this year's spring run, several members of the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club said they noticed the flag was getting worn and tattered, so they decided to replace it, and replace it properly.

The flag that went up May 27 had been carried on a bike across Hoover Dam, and was unfurled at the Boulder City cemetery. Then it was taken to its permanent home.

Bill Cook of Texas was a pilot in the CIA-funded excursions that came to be known as Air America.

"Every year it becomes more difficult to motivate people about the MIAs," he said in remarks during the ceremony.

Some in the gathering need no outside motivation.

Armando Hernandez of Las Vegas was there because his grandfather died in Vietnam. While Armando is too young to even remember the war's end, he cares about the memory of Guadalop Hernandez of California, one of the 58,221 names on the Vietnam War Memorial.

Kim Wilson was there to also remember someone he never met.

Wilson, who lives in the Northwest area, was adopted after his mother died. His biological brother -- Patrick Skeet of New Mexico -- was killed while serving in the Army in Vietnam in 1965. Patrick and Kim never met.

In 1970, Wilson joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Vietnam in long-range reconnaissance, which Wilson described as being part grunt, part sharp-shooter. Now, he and his wife, Marilyne, are active in the One Way Riders and the Christian Motorcyclists Association.

Wilson sees Vietnam Vets finally getting equal recognition with the vets from other wars.

"It is coming around more in the last five years compared to when the war ended until then," Wilson said. "It was an unpopular war."