Sunday, June 14, 2009

An other Weekend

Another weekend and I have a lot going on. Dan and I went on another Patriot Guard Ride. Three members of the Georgia National Guard were killed in Afghanistan last week. They were only in country for 20 days when they hit an improvised explosive device. A fire fight ensued and 3 lives were lost.

We went to the funeral of Sergeant John Beale. Sergeant Beale lived in McDonough with his wife and 2 children. His body came home last Thursday, his son’s 13th birthday. One of the neat things I saw at the church was when the family limo came up to the door it was flanked be 2 State Patrol motorcycles and 4 Patriot Guard bikes. The bike in front of the limo has the 13 year old son on it. The PGR had a good showing, 140 members showed up to honor the family. This was the largest procession I have ever seen. Not counting the PGR motorcycles It took 35 minutes from the time the first vehicle left for the cemetery till the last one got out of the church parking lot.
It was 22 miles to the cemetery and every car in both directions stopped and most of the people got out and stood at attention. Hundreds of veterans stood saluting in front of their homes and subdivisions. Every police and fire man in every jurisdiction we went thru were along the road to pay respect. The city of Lovejoy has 2 ladder trucks with an American flag across the road. This all tells me that AMERICA STILL CARES.
I would invite any of you to join me or Steve on a PGR mission. You do not have to be on a motorcycle to participate.
After the ride Dan and I went to Peachtree City to see a C130 storm chaser that was on display. The line was very long so we did not go in but we spent some time with the load master and got some great info.
The picture below is a probe they drop in a hurricane out the bottom of the plane, and it has a parachute to get weather info. ( I was told if the Russians got a hold of this picture they could play havoc with our weather for years to come,so do not pass this on.) Hay Bryan, This a modified J model (Early J model)
All in all I had a good day. I got some sun and shed some tears, but it was good.

5 comments:

JP2E said...

God Bless the sergeants family, and all those who showed them support in their time of need...

CShore said...

I got goosebumps reading your blog. Good job, and thank you.

Katie said...

That's awesome that you were a participant in that great show of respect and honor!! Thank you!! Also, thank you for all the pictures!! <3 ya! :)

P.S. I plan to share this one with Bryan for sure!

Peggie said...

I must agree with you, the PGR rides are truly amazing events. It just does your heart good to see how much people really do care in our great country. The first picture in your blog reminded me of something from the Civil War...all those flags and "horses" ready for action!!

Thanks for your insight.

Love ya!!

Sue said...

I know you shed some tears and I am so happy for you to have participated.