MIDLAND, Texas — For Bill McNeil, there's freedom riding on the open roads-a freedom he knows personally comes at a price.
This Vietnam veteran joined the navy right after high school.
"Because I didn't want to be running through the rice paddies carrying a rifle. I figured if I was on the ship I'd be offshore... And then after I got out of gunner's mate school, got voluntold that I was gonna go to Vietnam on river patrol boats,” McNeil said.
His very first patrol on a boat like this had his team escorting mine sweepers in the waters.
It was also McNeil’s birthday-he was 20 years old.
"One of the minesweepers got hit with either an RPG or something, we don't know, but it made a heck of a bam! And we got into a heck of a fire fight. We got up in between them and the shoreline to try to give them cover so they can take care of the wounded. And after it's all over and we're cleaning up, that's when I thought you know, I don't believe I’ll ever forget my 20th birthday,” said McNeil.
McNeil saw a lot of combat in his 355 days in Vietnam. He was wounded, earning a purple heart, but he considers himself the lucky one.
At the Vietnam Memorial in Midland, you'll find the name of his childhood friend.
"My closest friend in the world. Curtis McKinney was killed in Vietnam. I went to Vietnam first and came home and Curtis went and he didn't," McNeil said.
And there's other's names, classmates who didn't come back etched into this memorial.
McNeil also lost an uncle who fought in World War II. He was on a submarine and to this day is still missing.
"We lost him in April in 1945 in the South China Sea in the Navy.... He's still on patrol. We don't know where he's at. We don't know what happened to the submarine. He is aboard the USS Snook. And he's somewhere at the bottom of the South China Sea,” McNeil said.
That loss, that sacrifice is what's driving him on a different mission-a ride to remember.
"A fellow named Ron Gray and myself started that ride in 1999. We got to thinking that there wasn't enough being done about Memorial Day to bring awareness to actual Memorial Day instead of just a three-day holiday of barbecues and picnics and having fun which is what it's for. But folks needed, we felt folks needed to have a little boost to remember exactly why they got that three day weekend," said McNeil.
It started with 35 bikers, now hundreds are riding to remembering the sacrifice and reflecting on the price for freedom, gathering at the Vietnam Memorial to remember the real meaning of Memorial Day.
“All the advertisement and all the sales is going on and everything and they're always promoting you know we having a big car sales, we're selling mattresses, we're selling furniture. But why? Why are they able to do that on Memorial Day? Because of the thousands and thousands of men and women that have given their lives for this country, and they don't even mention them. They don't even say why they're free on Memorial Day. I want everybody to have their picnics and barbecues and enjoy their three-day weekend. But stop every once in a while and just think 'How come I can do this?'” McNeil said.
McNeil’s time in the military service may be over, but his service to other veterans and their sacrifices rides on.