LYNCHBURG, Va. – Rain, sleet, snow, or shine, the Monument Terrace Troop Rally has gathered every week in Lynchburg since November 2001.
Nearly a hundred people showed up for Friday’s milestone – the 1,000th consecutive week – and some have been in attendance since the very beginning.
Steve Bozeman helped organize the first rally and says they were supporting the military after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, but he didn’t think it’d last this long.
“We thought maybe 500 would be it; but once we got in Afghanistan, Iraq, then back in Afghanistan again; it just kept going one Friday after another. So, we kept showing up,” Bozeman said.
The Vietnam veteran earned two purple hearts and says he’s attended practically every rally because he made a promise when he returned home.
“When I came back from Vietnam, I wanted to make sure that the next generation of warriors who go to war, which was 9/11; I said, ‘I’m going to come down here and support these guys.”
Len Glaser has also stood at Monument Terrace each week for nearly two decades.
“Because of what my dad went through to make it free,” Glaser said.
His father was a D-Day vet who stormed Normandy. Glaser, himself, served in the navy in the 1960s. For him, the weekly vigil is like family.
“It’s just a place where there’s a lot of comradery, a lot of respect for the country. You can’t be with more patriotic people than down here,” Glaser said.
He plans on going back each week for as long as it takes.
“I thought it would last as long as the troops were overseas. We were going to be here.”
As they continue, the group will mark their 20th anniversary in November, around the 1,043rd consecutive rally.