Drawing inspiration from this year’s Run to the Wall — a cross-country motorcycle trip to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. — Somers veteran John Burgess has taken the lead in starting a Northwest Montana chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America.

An organizational meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Flathead Valley Community College Arts and Technology Building, Room 139. Several local businesses are providing food and refreshments for the meeting.

The chapter is open to both Vietnam War and Vietnam-era veterans who served in the military from 1962 to 1975.

Prospective members are asked to bring their DD214 discharge papers to the meeting. The state coordinator for Vietnam Veterans of America will attend the meeting to verify paperwork, Burgess said. At least 25 members must attend to form a Northwest chapter; Burgess said he has gotten confirmation from more than 50 veterans who plan to participate.

Burgess, who joined the Navy at age 17 in 1972 and served aboard the USS Meyerkord DE-1058, said that earlier this year, he and his wife Willa participated in the Run to the Wall, part of a massive motorcycle entourage that rode through the southern United States.

“The outpouring of support was an emotional and mental wash,” he said. “In the nine days we traveled, there was never a day with dry eyes.”

The annual trips that take veterans on routes through America’s heartland are aimed at promoting healing among all veterans and their families and honoring the memory of those killed in action and remembering those missing in action.

When Burgess returned to the Flathead he vowed to start a local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. The closest chapters are in Hamilton and Sandpoint, Idaho, he said.

During the recent display in Whitefish of the Moving Wall — a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial — the Whitefish VFW allowed Burgess to set up a display and visit with other Vietnam veterans interested in joining a local chapter.

Once the chapter has been officially established, regular meetings will be held in the upstairs of the Northwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry in Evergreen.

Beyond starting the local chapter, Burgess has plans to secure a van equipped with a nurse to take six physically challenged veterans to the memorial in Washington, D.C.

For more information, contact Burgess at 857-3609.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.