LANSING, MI, -- A "Ride to Remember", ceremony, and prayer vigil will be held on Saturday beginning at the Palace of Auburn Hills and ending at the Orion Veterans Memorial in Lake Orion, Mich. The ride, ceremony, and vigil are in honor of four U.S. Army soldiers from Massachusetts, Michigan, and Ohio currently listed as missing or captured by the Department of Defense while in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Gordy Dibler, former stepfather of Pvt. Byron Fouty of Walled Lake, Mich., and Andy (Ramone) Jimenez, father of Spc. Alex Jimenez of Lawrence, Mass., in coordination with Jim Sereigo-Waring, founder of New England Caring for our Military Inc., organized the event to remember their sons and two other U.S. Soldiers missing in Iraq, Spc. Ahmed Altaie of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Staff Sgt. Keith Maupin of Batavia, Ohio.

Motorcyclists will begin staging at the Palace at 12 p.m., and will leave at 2 p.m. for the ride to the Orion Veterans Memorial located at 312 S. Broadway (M-24), Lake Orion. The vigil will begin at 4 p.m., with Cong. Joe Knollenberg and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson scheduled to speak at the event. Other invited guests include Veterans Affairs directors for Massachusetts and Michigan, Francisco Urena and Brig. Gen. Carol Ann Fausone.

The date marks more than four months since Fouty and Jimenez were declared by the Department of Defense as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN) after enemy forces attacked their patrol May 12. On June 27, the Department of Defense changed their status to MISSING/CAPTURED. Fouty and Jimenez are assigned to the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y. Altaie has been missing since October 2006 and Maupin has been missing since April 2004.

--END-

Media Advisory