Don Healy creates tribute to veterans Searcy, AR

The Daily Citizen

Any object or space can be art, and Don Healy has expressed his respect for veterans with a motorcycle.

In his R&D Detail shop on C.W. Road near the Hwy. 67/167 southbound entrance ramp, Healy points with pride to his creation, done with the help of friends and artisans.

“It’s a tribute to Charlie Nokes, who served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam,” Healy said. “Charlie was killed in an accident at Hardriders in Jacksonville last year.”

Nokes was known for riding his motorcycle, his small dog perched on the back of the bike, to raise money for March of Dimes.

The Prisoner of War/Missing in Action tribute bike Healy designed and rebuilt is a 2002 Honda 1100 Shadow Sabre. He installed a K&N filter and rejetted the carburetor, giving it the power of a 1450 Harley Davidson. A four-degree rake and four-inch risers give it a distinctive outline, and the chrome drive shaft cover and radiator cover make it shine. Chrome Vance and Hines Longshot exhaust pipes set off the upgrade.

But while the bike’s power and shape is impressive, it is the custom paint job that sets it apart. Gene Reagan of Bradford airbrushed the artwork.

A daughter and granddaughter peer into the depths of the Vietnam Memorial on the gas tank as the grandfather’s shadow looks back at them from within the black granite. Behind them, a disabled veteran, whose leg was lost in Vietnam, looks at the wall from a wheelchair. Overhead, a ghost salutes the U.S. and POW/MIA flags as a jet thunders by.

On the right side of the tank, which Healy calls the “POW” side, a soldier waits for rescue while trapped in a cage. A soldier who is missing in action is partially blacked out on the left side of the gas tank, backed by a sunset on a river, perhaps in the Mekong Delta.

The front fender has a picture of Nokes, along with an eagle with banner that says, “You are not forgotten,” the POW/MIA motto.

A soldier in a fox hole writes a letter on the right side cover. “Dear Betty,” he begins, and writes, “We’re under heavy fire today...”

The left side cover shows the Vietnam ribbon, the Purple Heart, and the stripes of a Sgt. 1st class, the rank both Nokes and Healy earned, and a geographic outline of Vietnam is shown.

The rear fender has a U.S. flag and the dates “1969-1971,” the dates Nokes served in Vietnam. On the mustang seat, the POW/MIA emblem is reproduced in black and white leather, done by Billy Caulkin, who runs The Recovery Room in Bradford. Caulkin also installed the base paint coat and three coats of lacquer.

Caulkin and Reagan plan a new company, “Bad Company Customs,” to do bikes, cars and trucks.

Healy, who served in the U.S. Army and Reserves from 1971 to 1991, plans a 911 tribute bike, and hopes to ride the POW/MIA bike in the fair and Christmas parades.

For now, he expresses his respect for those who gave their all, and for all who gave some, with a very special motorcycle.