Vietnam veteran honoring WWII women pilots with 26-day bike ride

Biking for 26 days and nearly 900 miles, Vietnam veteran Larry Ritland is embarking on the ride of a lifetime.

Ritland, a 42-year member of the American Legion, will bike from his hometown of Story County, Iowa, to Sweetwater, Texas, to honor two Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), Gleanna Roberts and Beverly Jean Moses, both of whom died in World War II.

The WASPs were a group of women who flew military aircraft in the states during the war. The military classified the women as civilians and would not pay for their expenses when one was killed in the line of service.

“Two were from Iowa, and I had never heard of them,” Ritland told the National WASP WWII Museum, where his bike tour will culminate Sept. 28.