Google info: Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces who have met a minimum active duty service requirement and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. A Veteran’s spouse, widow or widower, minor dependent children, and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible for burial. Eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they predecease the Veteran. Members of the reserve components of the armed forces who die while on active duty or who die while on training duty, may also be eligible for burial.
Riverside National Cemetery is home of the Medal of Honor Memorial, one of four sites in the United States recognized by the U.S. Congress as a National Medal of Honor Memorial Site. The Medal of Honor Memorial walls feature the names of all medal recipients. It was dedicated at a ceremony attended by 85 Medal of Honor recipients November 5, 1999.
The names of each of the 3,455 Medal of Honor recipients is inscribed on the polished granite. The recipients are listed in decoration date order arranged by conflict period beginning with the Civil War all the way thru Iraq / Afghanistan.
Some names we saw were: Theodore Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur. Names with star represent that they have received more than one medal. There are 19. Mary Edwards was the only female.
Single names represent the native Indian.
Replicas of the Medals of Honor
To date there are about 270,000 buried here. There are about 35 per day can, can have as many as 70.
The gentleman is Lee Millet and help design the memorial. His dad was a Medal of Honor recipient from the Korean War
Larry and I had to attend a meeting for the leadership for Central Route.
First thing Winky asked us was:
HOW FAR WE FGOING?
Answer: ALL THE WAY!!!!!
Some of the items gone over:
- Everyone is to attend the morning meetings and platoon meeting
- Safety Check on gear of riders
- Confirm everyone has medical papers on lanyards around their neck
Next was one of the first tear jerkers of the trip. "Pretty Boy" , one of the road guards, brought up Rick Young's family. He took a long time to compose himself. Rick was tail gunner for platoon 4 last year. He was sick but did not want to go to the doctor because he knew they would tell him not to go. The Run meant a lot to him. He passed away not long after the Run. He was buried with is orange tail gunner hat. One of his daughters got a hold of Pretty Boy and asked if they could possibly have a orange hat to remember his time with the Run. He was able to get 5 hats and inscribed on them was "In Memory for Rick Young. Plantoon #4 Tail Gunner". One more hat was made to be placed at the Wall in his honor.
Tom is the head road guard. He and most of the guards have been doing this for 15 years. 1 just had 20 years. This job is so important to get everyone safely across this great country. There is actually a waiting list to be one.
We leave the meeting and see this van: Combat Hero Bike Build. John Barker and his team build bikes for our service men that have come back missing a limb. He gave Larry and I a sneak peak of the one we will see tonight. He is out of Oregon and just recently there is one in North Carolina.
In the lobby, this map represents the 3 routes. If you open it up there are pins that represent where people have come from to ride: Pennsylvania, New York, N. Carolina, Florida, Washington, Hawaii, Alaska and all the states in between.
There are even some from New Zealand and Australia.
In he afternoon, the 3rd Marine Air Wing Band perform for us.
Boilermaker, Larry and Ron enjoy the music.
The band played a medley of songs of each of our branches: Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Marines. As they played , they asked those to come forward and be recognized for their service.
This is how they came up. I never get tired to see this. Such respect.
Larry and I also enjoyed the music
These 2 gentleman told be a story about the t-shirts they were wearing. These were the first ones made in 1989 for the first Run. Gunny helped design them.
If you look close, the guy in the front on the right is Gunny 😊
Next order of event is dinner and a few speeches. First is the Pledge of Allegiance.
Harry Spellman is the president of RFTW. After 10 year serving and many other years in several leadership positions, he is retiring. He talked about the age of many of he riders being over 60. And of them, many are over 70. We need to start getting the word out to attract the next generation. There are now a few people working on "sustainability" of the Run. I hope that thru this blog, we have sparked interest and we see many other joining.
This year, 40% riding are FNGs (remember : fine new guy/gal= first year riders). They had them all stand. Ron was one of them.
I had the pleasure to sit next to Ron Westlake who is on the Midway route. He rides for his cousin. His cousin was shot in the head in Vietnam. As he bent over to get more ammo, a bullet went right thru his head. Guys were dropping right and left. The medic went to him immediately , pushed the skull back together as best he could and put tape around it. He was air lifted then on to the states. He was paralyzed on his left side and lost much of his sight. His wife met the doctors there and they told her he would need to go to Veterans nursing facility. She said NO, he will come home. Because of her, he was able to get a college degree. When it was his turn to walk up the steps to get his diploma, the dean walked down the steps to give it to him. He said "no", I will walk up and receive it.
He has also written a book "Promise Kept" but Leonard Rugh for his wife. At a book signing, a lady asked if he was going to be there a while and he said yes. She came back with here husband. They are 99.9% sure, he was the helicopter that flew him after he was shot. Amazing!!!!
Here you go. This is the bike for our wounded soldier. He was in Baghdad when they were under mortar attack. He lost his right leg. He joined the army in 1987, this was because the recruiter for Air Force was out to lunch LOL. While he was in the hospital recovering, it was the Vietnam veterans that were at his bedside and brought him back. He is now a recruiter. Next year he plans on riding with us ALL THE WAY!!!
Bike Build help those the can't ride, to ride.
I met this father / son last year. Dad "Cornman" and son "Doorstop" road all the way last year. They plan on doing it this year also. 2015 was his son's first year but was only able to do part of it. Doorstop says he wants to do this every year. Here is our future generation. He is 13.
Larry and Ron tonight, ready to go for tomorrow!!!!
One request to all those prayer soldiers. Larry tweak/ pull his back this morning. At times he is ok then turn / steps the wrong way and in some good amount of pain. Those that have pulled your back know what I am talking about. Tomorrow will be ones of the longest days on the Run, 400+ miles. Add him to the list please. He is pretty disappointed. I know him too well and he will not let it stop him. THANKS!!!
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