HOPKINSVILLE – Members of Calvert City’s William A. Doyle Post 236 of the American Legion met with Legion motorcyclists from across the nation at the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West Sunday afternoon and presented a $500 donation to a fundraising ride.
The military veteran bikers were on the way from Indianapolis to Fort Campbell on the first day of the American Legion Legacy Run 2016, a five-day journey of 1,264 miles through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Ohio.
The ride is held annually to raise money to help pay for college expenses for children whose parents lost their lives while serving in the armed forces. The American Legion and the Legion Riders offer support through the Legacy Scholarship Fund.
Some 538 riders registered for this year’s event, and an estimated 400-plus arrived in Hopkinsville around 4 p.m. Sunday.
At a brief stopover at the military cemetery, a ceremony was held with a color guard that included of two members of Post 236, Army veteran Leonard Harp of Gilbertsville and Navy veteran Duane Briggs of Symsonia. Presentations were made, accepted by American Legion National Commander Dale Barnett. Post 236 Commander Bob Zirkle Jr.
delivered the check from members of the Calvert City post.
Zirkle headed a delegation of 21 members of Post 236 and its Women’s Auxiliary group.
Barnett said more than $300,000 was contributed before the start of the ride, earlier Sunday at Post 64, near American Legion national headquarters in Indianapolis.
The group planned to stay overnight at Fort Campbell before continuing on the way to a conclusion on Thursday at the Yeager-Benson Memorial American Legion Post 199 in Harrison, Ohio, near Cincinnati.
Sunday assemble on the grounds of the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West.