Mehlville Resident Organizes Riders in Vet Parade

A Mehlville resident is organizing a group of motorcyclists to honor a fallen soldier in Saturday’s Welcome Home Veterans Parade.

The parade is a grassroots effort to thank Iraq War veterans for their service.

It starts at 12 p.m. Saturday at Kiener Plaza.

But Joe Heinkel wanted to do more than watch the parade from the streets. He got together with his friend Scott Coleman, the owner of Lemay’s Some Other Place bar and grill, and the two started making phone calls.

“I heard about the parade and a few of us had ridden in the vet parade,” Heinkel said. “Some riders were worried about the weather, I said, ‘Our soldiers weren’t too worried about the weather when they were defending our freedom.’”

The group is riding to honor Sgt. Amanda Pinson, who died March 16, 2006, while serving in the Iraq War. Pinson, of Lemay, was close with Coleman’s son.

Heinkel hopes to have 50-100 bikers ride out of Some Other Place to join the parade. The St. Louis County Police will escort the group up Highway 55.

The parade is scheduled to travel west on Market Street to Union Station. Organizers will have a resource station for veterans between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Organizers of the parade wanted to make Jan. 28 “Welcome Home the Heroes from Iraq Day.” More than 4,500 people have joined the group’s Facebook page and they’ve gotten more than $15,000 from St. Louis-based companies to cover parade expenses.