By Mary Alice Murphy
You are seeing lots of bicyclists in Silver City this weekend. Most are preparing for the Tour of the Gila next week.
However, one particular lone rider, Tom Wiseman, is a U.S. Marine veteran making a cross-country ride from Florida to California.
When asked why, he replied that his entire life has been devoted to veterans. He served eight years as a county veterans service officer in Defiance, Ohio, his hometown.
His purpose is to raise money to buy a van for veterans in VFW Post 4419 in Clay County, WV. The Post's van, lost in flooding in 2016, was used to take veterans to medical care, including mental health counseling and for the Post's honor guard to take part in funeral details.
On his website, www.tomwisemanbikeride.com, he said the Defiance, Ohio, AMVETS 1991, of which he is life member, embarked on a fundraising mission at Christmas 2016.
"I was talking to some folks about how to raise money for the van, and I committed to riding my bike from Florida to California to raise money."
Wiseman said: "Clay County is one of the poorest counties in West Virginia. It is our goal to raise about $10,000 for the cost of a replacement vehicle for the West Virginia post. Some funds have already been pledged and raised, but we are not near the goal yet."
During the Vietnam War, the state of West Virginia had one of the highest casualty rates per capital in the country, according to his website.
Wiseman teaches political science at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. In Defiance, he served two terms as mayor, a single term as city councilor-at-large and two terms as county commissioner there. Then he got his Ph.D. and began teaching.
Three men who went into the Vietnam War as "buddies" with Wiseman, 48 years ago, are supporting his efforts. One, Bill Steffan, of Michigan plans to ride the last 50 miles with his friend.
[Author's Note: Steffan is the one that contacted me about the ride and Wiseman's arrival in Silver City.]
"We served, not together, but at the same time in different places in Vietnam," Wiseman said. "We plan to meet up for a reunion in San Diego."
He said Steffan's daughter teaches school in San Diego, and "I Facetime with the students every couple of weeks. The students will meet us at the finish line and we will all go for a ride together. The students have painted their bikes to match."
Wiseman co-authored a short book, "Reclaiming the Soul," with another Vietnam veteran he met when he returned to Vietnam in 2002.
"It was the neatest thing," he said. "I went to Saigon, which was my first time there. The Vietnamese do not remember the war. I saw Vietnamese people wearing USA shirts. They like Americans. The highlight was meeting with two of my buddies at the Hanoi Hilton. I also met a fellow named, Dan, who said he had come back to 'reclaim my soul," hence the title of the book. He was rebuilding an orphanage."
Wiseman's arrival in Silver City reaches the 73 percent mark of his ride, and he's happy to have accomplished riding over the highest spot in his travels, Emory Pass.
"I am following the Adventure Cycling Southern Route," he said. "It adds extra miles, but it pays off."
His days are taken up with subsistenceGÇömaking sure he has enough food and water and finding a place to sleep, sometimes beside the road and not in an official camping area.
"It has been wonderful," Wiseman said about his ride to date. "There are so many good, kind people out there." He said when we was stopped because of a problem with his bicycle, a man in a pickup stopped to help him fix it and got him going again.
"The biggest thing I have found out is that people very much support veterans, and especially Vietnam veterans," he said. "Another thing that propelled me on this journey is the 22 veterans dying a day from suicide. My thinking is that if we can get this van to get the veterans to the VA Center for mental health care, we owe it to the veterans for their contributions to our country."
He is a life member of just about every service organizationGÇöVeterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled Veterans of America, Vietnam Veterans of America, AMVETS and he said he is an annual dues paying member of his hometown Marine Corps League Detachment to help them out financially.
To donate to Wiseman's cause, visit www.gofundme.com/tom-wiseman-bike-ride-vfw-post-4419