Vets and Supporters Take The Thunderbird Chapel Ride

The Combat Veterans Association wanted to support the construction of a new chapel at Camp Gruber.

Saturday, April 21st 2012, 8:47 pm

By: News 9


"We've had an outpouring of support that you can see, this is just our first stop."

Bethel Baptist Church in Yukon is the first stop, we find the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Guys getting ready to ride to Camp Gruber.

The riders stopped at First Baptist Church in Stroud to pick up more riders, then off to Camp Gruber in Braggs.

"We wanted to support the construction of this church at Camp Gruber because some of us have been out there training, several times. I'm going next month...." Veterans "Lucky" aka Ron Hartleroad and "Limey" aka Marty Mendoza said.

Oklahoma soldiers will soon have a place to pray or reflect after training and deployments. The new Thunderbird Chapel is nearly complete.

4//18/2012 Related Story: New Camp Gruber Chapel To Honor Oklahoma's 45th Infantry

"I think it's great deal. Everyone needs some spiritual in their life and when we're there training it's all training," Hartleroad said.

"You have to make time for the spiritual aspect for the soldiers," Mendoza said. "It is a good thing. It gives them some relief from the rigorous training."

That's what the ride to Camp Gruber is all about, reflecting and raising money.

What makes this project even more special, it's exclusively funded through private donations of skilled labor, equipment and money.

"We didn't really know what to expect," Bethel Bikers Leader Chris Cord said. "Of all the people that need a place to worship, it's when you're staging to go overseas or training for something some of us will never do."

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