The Moving Wall arousing the emotions of veterans, loved ones

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1999 | 11:18 a.m.

A patch on the black leather jacket of a man known as White Wolf reads, "The price of freedom is written on the wall."

It's something that he and the other members of the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club will be thinking about as they stand guard for the next seven days in Las Vegas over The Moving Wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

"We'll be out here walking the wall," said White Wolf, a 46-year-old Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War, who will take time this week to guard the memorial as it rests in a grassy area behind the Eagles Lodge, 1601 E. Washington Ave.

An estimated 600,000 Las Vegans and tourists are expected to visit the memorial, which will officially open to the public today with a 3 p.m. ceremony.

Keeping watch over the nation's four traveling replicas of Washington's Vietnam Veterans Memorial are motorcycle-riding, leather-clad vets who go by nicknames like White Wolf, Robo and Smiley.

More than 100 veterans from the Nevada branch of the motorcycle club escorted the wall from the Arizona border to Las Vegas on Tuesday.

"Three members of our Arizona chapter, Ice Man, Pitbull and Wanderer, stood guard over the wall in Kingman Monday night and then they passed it onto us at Hoover Dam," White Wolf said. "We escorted it in and then put it together in about two hours."

The club members think of each other and those lost in the war as brothers and go strictly by their nicknames. They ride only American-made Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The vets will stand guard over the wall for the seven days it is in town before escorting it to the California border.

The club members admit their appearance can be a little intimidating, but they take their jobs seriously, said Robo, a 55-year-old, who served as an Army Ranger from 1963 to 1965.

"The war touched so many people in this country and we have people come down and see the names of their uncles, aunts, fathers and grandfathers," Robo said. "We try to make sure that people are respectful and don't forget these people."

Robo got his nickname because of all the metal plates he now has in his body from injuries he suffered in Vietnam.

White Wolf, who was in Vietnam in 1972 and 1973, said the vets are always wary of those looking to cause trouble, but adds that most people are respectful when they visit the wall.

"We don't have a lot of problems, but there are a lot of idiots out there," White Wolf said. "All you have to do is read the papers or look at Columbine to see that there are crazy people out there. If someone comes here looking to cause problems, they'll be in trouble."

The wall will be open 24 hours a day. At night can be a tough time to be near the wall and the window it opens on the past, White Wolf said Tuesday night.

"In the daytime you get families out, but at night you get the in-country veterans," White Wolf said. "They are the ones who were actually in Vietnam during the war."