Published: July 04, 2009 12:10 am      

Some gave all

Motorcycle rally will honor 7 local soldiers

ASHLAND — The culmination of Summer Motion will be the Some Gave All town hall event on Sunday honoring Kentucky soldiers who paid the ultimate price for our nation’s freedom.

The Some Gave All motorcycle rally will make its ninth town hall stop in in Central Park on Sunday. The stop is the second to last on the five-day 1,100-mile motorcycle rally, which began July 1. A ceremony to honor the seven local soldiers and their families will take place at 2 p.m.

Soldiers to be honored are: Cpl. Joseph H. Cantrell IV, of Ashland; Cpl. Gary B. Coleman, of Pikeville; Pfc. Scott A. Messer, of Ashland; Lance Cpl. Jonathan B. Thornsberry, of McDowell; Sgt. Joseph M. Tackett, of Whitehouse; Spc. Jeremy R. Gullett, of Greenup and Edward Thomas Earhart of Salt Lick.

The rally is organized by the Kentucky National Guard and Kentucky Association of Mortgage Professionals to honor the more than 78 Kentucky soldiers who have given their lives in the war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan and on Sept. 11.

Before stopping in Ashland, the rally will have had town halls to honor soldiers in London, Richmond, Bowling Green, Hopkinsville, Paducah, Owensboro, Louisville and Newport. The rally will conclude in Lexington, the final stop after Ashland.

According to Summer Motion Committee member Greg Jackson, approximately 200 motorcyclists will begin arriving in Ashland around 1 p.m. They will enter Ashland via U.S. 23 and travel up 17th Street to Central Avenue where they will park near 18th Street.

A patriotic ceremony to honor the seven soldiers and their families will be after a lunch served by local volunteers.

Summer Motion organizers called the event “the culmination” of the week’s festivities.

“We are doing an Independence celebration. Since I’ve done this I’ve really had a focus on paying tribute to our veterans. To me, that is what this is all about,” said Summer Motion President Chuck Charles.

“Summer Motion is focused around patriotism. This is just our way of saying thanks for the people who have paid the ultimate price and their families. They are the reason we have independence, that we have freedoms,” Charles said. “We’ve got to never forget and Summer Motion can be a help to that. Never forget,” he said.

“Those freedoms aren’t free,” added Jackson.

“We are always appreciative that a lot of the public supports all of Summer Motion,” said Jackson, “but to support something like this would be fantastic. If the public would show up for this it just shows the great support for these soldiers and their families. So we’re hoping to have a very large turnout for that to show support to the soldiers and their families.”

Individuals wishing to join the rally on its last leg to Lexington can register online at www.somegaveallky.com or at the park on Sunday.

The rally is also being used as a fundraising event for the Enlisted Association of Kentucky. The organization hopes to raise $40,000 in college scholarships for the children of fallen soldiers.