Royal Enfield Military honors veterans

Royal Enfield's Military model motorcycle is a big seller in the United States because its olive drab, military-spec appearance hearkens back to World War II. That's my opinion, at least.

While all wars are awful, there remain many positive associations with that time, when the United Nations banded together against true evil, and won.

There is particular pride in the military of those days. This is not to say that Americans aren't proud of all their veterans. The size of the undertaking of 1941-45 and the unity it inspired nonetheless gives that war a special significance.

Is there some special significance to a Brit-style military motorcycle? Yes, I think so.

Britain's lone stand inspired many Americans. In Trinity, Tex., an 8-year-old boy hung a painting over his bed of an RAF pilot in his Spitfire, patrolling the night skies of London.

That boy was Charlie Wilson, who would grow up to be the congressman who tries to chase the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan in the movie Charlie Wilson's War.

A Royal Enfield Military is a more practical substitute for a Spitfire of your own.

Jorge Pullin, who blogs at My Royal Enfields, spotted this newsreel clip of British motorcyclists in action in World War II. They're setting Belgium free, the narrator says. Inspiring, isn't it?

Thanks, Jorge. And best wishes today to U.S. and allied veterans, who made the world free.