MVPA Convoy rolls into Delphos

Published:  Friday, June 19, 2009 (7 months, 3 weeks ago)
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More than 70 miltary vehicles with the Military Vehicle Preservation Association roll into Delphos late Wednesday afternoon as the group re-enacts the original convoy from 1919.BY STACY TAFF
The Delphos Herald

DELPHOS — The Military Vehicle Preservation Association (MVPA) Convoy paraded through town, stopping for the night on their journey across the country — a journey which started in Washington D.C., and will end in San Francisco.
After getting settled in the parking lot of Jefferson High School and setting up camp for the night, the VFW and American Legion provided a chicken dinner for the drivers and passengers of the convoy.
Although this convoy is traveling the same route as the first in 1919, much has changed and the journey is a lot easier. The first convoy experienced 230 mishaps along the way and damaged 88 bridges. Major Art Pope says their convoy has only had 3 problems.
“We’ve had a few difficulties, we had to change an engine in a Dodge Command Car and replace a bumper on another one,” he said. “We also had to repair a wheel cylinder of a brake on another vehicle. But we haven’t destroyed any bridges.”
Even with these minor set-backs, it would be understandable for the convoy to be behind schedule but Pope says this isn’t a problem.
“We should arrive in San Francisco on the 8th of July,” he said. “We’ve had some minor delays, and we may have some more delays but we’ll always be on schedule. We may be late getting where we’re going on any given day, but we’ll never be behind schedule overall.”
The point of the first convoy was to test the roads cross country and to see if it were possible for a large convoy to make it from one end to the other. At the end of the journey it was clear that some major roadwork needed to be done. Pope says the roads have come a long way.
“So far the roads have been pretty good,” said Pope. “We’ve mostly just encountered potholes, and we ran into a lot of them in between Wooster and Delphos. But then again we’re taking back roads, because we’re following the old Lincoln Highway.”
Pope also says the most enjoyable part of the whole journey so far has been the communities along the way.
“All of the communities have been outstanding and very welcoming with flags and signs saying ‘welcome MVPA’ and ‘thank you’ and things like that. We’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “In Maryland and Pennsylvania they had some fantastic motorcycle patrolmen that helped us out and escorted us, and here in Ohio, the sheriffs and city police departments are also very helpful. Most of the people we’ve encountered have been way beyond our expectations and have been very hospitable. This shows that the local communities have made it a point to advertise that we’re coming through.
“Tomorrow we’ll leave at 7 a.m. and we’re going to Van Wert for breakfast, which is another American Legion hosted meal,” he continued. “We’re going through all of the same towns that the first convoy went through and we’re staying the night in the same towns they did.”
The convoy of 1919 recruited 200 young men into the armed forces but Pope says this isn’t their purpose in going cross-country.
“We aren’t really qualified or set up to recruit anyone, it’s not what we’re trying to do,” Pope said. “We’re hoping that what we’re doing will help make people more patriotic and then maybe that will inspire more people to enlist, but it isn’t our goal.”
The last convoy to come this way was in 1992, only instead of stopping in California like the 1919 and 2009 convoys, this one went all the way up to Alaska, in honor of the construction of the Alcan (Alaska-Canada) Highway. Pope was involved with the 1992 convoy as well.
Since the MVPA is all about the restoration and preservation of military vehicles, Pope says that the convoy is also about honoring the past and keeping it alive.
“The MVPA is all about feeling the satisfaction of accomplishing something,” he said. “These vehicles are parade and museum vehicles that represent members of peoples’ families who fought in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. They represent a lot of grandfathers and fathers and someone can look at the vehicle and say ‘this is the kind of car my father drove in Vietnam,’ and that’s satisfying.
“We have vehicles that are owned and represented by people from all over the country. We have people from Washington state, Massachusetts, Texas and all the states in between. It’s been a pleasure to be involved with this and it’s been much more enjoyable than we ever anticipated, which we mainly attribute to the people and communities we’ve encountered along the way.”
The convoy will break their journey Thursday in South Bend, Ind.

1 Reader Response to “MVPA Convoy rolls into Delphos”

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  1. #1 — Added 7 months, 3 weeks ago

    I live in Minneapolis and I’m going to Cedar Rapids today to see the convoy. I’m not able to find a website on the convoys progress. Is it on schedule? Where will it Bivouac? Lots of little details you should post for others who want to see your convoy.

    Posted on June 22, 2009 at 8:02 am by John Wangensteen