AUBURN – Paul L’Heureux will gladly dig down and pay a few dollars in Turnpike tolls this morning while he helps escort a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Wall to Lewiston.

It’s all about honoring his brothers, American soldiers who fell in Vietnam.

“Those brothers paid the ultimate price,” said L’Heureux, state commander of the American Legion in Maine and one of thousands of riders expected to make the trek. “All we have to do is pay a few tolls.”

L’Heureux and about 50 area motorcyclists will meet at 7 a.m. at the American Legion Post 153 in New Auburn to ride down to the weigh station in York.

There, they’ll rendezvous with at least 1,000 other riders from across Maine to escort the memorial wall back to Lewiston.

Steve Page, post commander of American Legion Post 132 in Richmond, said he realized last week that all the riders would have to pay tolls on the trip. He and his friends will pay at least $5.50 each.

Multiplied by 1,000 riders, it’s a lot of money.

“It was just the fact that I’m escorting a national treasure, and we all have to pay to do it,” he said. “That really bothers me.”

His complaints wound up on the front page of some newspapers in Maine on Saturday, but Page said he’s since had a change of heart.

“I understand that there isn’t much the state can do about it,” Page said. “I guess it’s not up to them. So, there’s no blame on the state. But it’s still unfortunate. We’re trying to honor people here, and I wish it didn’t have to be about money.”

Dan Paradee, spokesman for the Maine Turnpike Authority, said the bond contracts the authority has signed forbid any free travel on the Turnpike.

“So if we were to let this group travel for free, we would be sued by our bondholders,” Paradee said. “And we would lose.”

Instead, Paradee said the authority has worked with bikers and event organizers in planning the motorcade. The authority is paying all salaries for the troopers helping with the escort and has staff working overtime for the event.

“It’s a fairly black-and-white issue over the tolls,” he said. “We’ve worked with the event organizers and leaders all along, but we can’t work with each individual biker and can’t control what they say to the newspapers. So it’s a shame now, if this overshadows the reason for the trip.”

David Farmer, spokesman for Maine Governor John Baldacci, said there is little the state can do.

“This is nothing but the very operating rules of Maine Turnpike Authority,” Farmer said. “We’re glad the wall is coming, and we’re glad for the escort. But this is a situation where we are not allowed to make exceptions.”

It will be the second time the wall has visited Maine. It was last in South Portland two years ago. A similar, smaller wall was on display in Kennedy Park in 2001.

This is a 8-foot-tall, 240-foot-long replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. It’s being brought to Lewiston by national funeral home chain Service Corporation International and its Lewiston-Auburn affiliate, the Fortin Group. The company brings the wall to 20 cities a year, at no cost to the community.

It will be on display in Veterans Park, at the foot the Great Falls, Sept. 28 through 30.

Emmett Stuart, a member of the New Auburn post, said the Turnpike tolls still make him angry.

“There’s always a way to make an exception, or at least there ought to be,” Stuart said Saturday.

But L’Heureux said most riders don’t care.

“If we get 2,000 riders, you’ll be lucky to find 100 that are upset,” he said. “These guys would ride in the rain to do what they’re doing. They’re riding because they can ride, and the brothers they’re honoring can’t.”