Jacob Wetterling Missing Children Walk (Part 1)

On the second day of the 2009 Jacob Wetterling Freedom Walk for Missing and Abducted Children, Vietnam vets accompanied by Jacob's father Dr. Jerry Wetterling, march on Minnesota Highway 10 near Becker, Minn.

Video by Aubrey Immelman

More information:

http://www.immelman.us/news/jacob-wetterling-20-years-on/

http://www.immelman.us/news/jacob-wetterling-freedom-walk/

Story as reported by the St. Cloud Times:

Vietnam Vets Plan Last Missing Children Walk

By Dave Aeikens
St. Cloud Times
December 17, 2009

Twenty years ago, Mike Clark was trying to attract attention to the disappearance of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old boy who was abducted from near his St. Joseph home.

Clark, who at the time was an elementary school teacher in Princeton, got some of his Vietnam veteran friends and walked from Anoka to the Wetterling home. It took three days and ended on Christmas. The trip has been repeated every five years.

Now 63 and retired, Clark plans to make the roughly 60-mile journey one last time -- starting Friday from Anoka and ending Sunday at the Wetterling house.

"We are not getting any younger. Here comes 20 years and a few of us are still in relatively decent health. We decided to make this one more time," Clark said. "It will surely be the last."

Clark said many of the original walkers have died, can no longer walk or take medications for various ailments including bad backs, hips and knees.

The trip is meant to bring attention to all missing children, Clark said. It will start in Anoka and end in Big Lake on Friday, go from Big Lake to St. Cloud on Saturday and wrap up Sunday with a trip from East St. Cloud to St. Joseph. The plan is to arrive at the Wetterling home around noon.

"This isn't just for Jacob now. This is for all missing kids. It's a message we need to renew. I think a lot of progress has been made to help families find their kids," said Clark, who has a son born the same year as Jacob Wetterling.

The walkers plan to leave at 8 a.m. Sunday morning from the Burger King along Minnesota Highway 23. The final stop could include some prayers and the firing three times of a military rifle.

http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009112150040

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• missing
• children
• child
• abduction
• Jacob
• Wetterling
• Mike
• Clark
• Vietnam
• vets
• Jerry
• Patty
• Dave
• Aeikens
• Aubrey
• Immelman

[Hans021220]

Why does only 7 joins this demonstration?It should have been way much more.

[aimmelman]

@Hans021220 The men are Vietnam veterans who are getting too old to walk the roughly 60 miles from Anoka to St. Joseph in three days. This was their final walk. But yes, it would have been nice if members of the public had joined the march in solidarity.

[howieloso]

Where is this march located?

[aimmelman]

@howieloso ... See "more info" for details. The three-day march went from up Highway 10 from Anoka to Big Lake to St. Cloud, and from there along Division Street and Highway 23 to St. Joseph, ending at the Wetterling home in rural St. Joseph, Minnesota.

[cusanusnicolas]

thank you, men!