MILITARY & MOTORCYCLES_JANUARY 23, 2014
Marcus Luttrell
Last week I wrote about the movie Lone Survivor and I would like to continue along those lines this week.
If you haven’t seen the movie I will give you advance warning it is “R” rated for violence and language. That is not a big surprise for those who have been there and done that. For those who have not, you may be offended by both.
After reading the book Lone Survivor back in 2007, a custom bike builder by the name of Jeri Exner of Clearwater spent nearly seven months building a motorcycle for Marcus Luttrell. The motorcycle was presented to Marcus in front of thousands upon thousands of Texans, Texas Governor Rick Perry, Glenn Beck and local dignitaries.
At the time Marcus wasn’t able to ride the bike and he asked that it be taken back to Florida and displayed at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum which is located in Fort Pierce. Jeri did exactly that and the bike stayed at the museum until the building started renovations at which time the bike was brought back to Clearwater for safe keeping.
As I sat watching Lone Survivor a week ago Friday, I remembered the bike and called Jeri that afternoon. The bike was brought down to Thunder by the Bay and displayed and then arrangements were made to have it displayed at Carmike Royal Palm 20 Theater located at 5125 26th St East, Bradenton.
The showings were not motivated by monetary reasons and/or trophies. It was done so the public could see this rolling memorial to the 19 men who died during the initial operation as well as the rescue attempt. In all 9 SEALs and 8 members of the US Army Night Stalkers of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne – Fort Campbell, Kentucky) were killed.
The bike will be on display until Monday at no charge to the public or the theater. For more information regarding this bike go to jeris-springer.com where you can see photos of this bike. I just want to tell you seeing it sitting in front of you will blow you away with the details on the motorcycle. Each intricate detail came from the book. I have been involved with the bike for about three years and I still find things I haven’t seen before.
For more information please call Carmike Royal Palm 20 at (941) 752-3796.
As a sidebar note, I contacted all of the media (television and print) in the Tampa Bay area informing them the bike was on display and only one television station stopped by to see it and the video/interview was never aired. Of the thousands of people who went to the theater in the last week 4% of them may have served in the military. Think about that number.
Should you have any comments please email me at PGRTerry@gmail.com. Have a great weekend and remember; ‘It’s not about the war, it’s about the warriors.”
God Bless America and all those who serve to protect us.
Terry Longpre