May 21, 2026 – Day 9 to DC - Nitro, WV to Lewisburg, WV

May 21, 2026 – Day 9 to DC - Nitro, WV to Lewisburg, WV

There is a team I have not mentions. Kathryn, Ed, Laura and Careen (she is not a morning person) make up the registration team. They work to make sure all the riders are registered. Careen (aka Squirrel) go get some coffee....it will make you feel better.

Also there is the last man vehicle.  He lets the leader know when the pack is all on the highway, or made a turn.  Keeping the pack together. 

I get a lot of stories to post and I wish I could get them all but this one is a good on.  It shows we are touching the younger generation.

From Sif the TG from 5th Platoon. We talked the other day about one of my riders and his grandkids donating to Rainelle.  My rider's names is Jeffrey Alan Crawley.  He has been sharing with them our ride and one of his grandkids lines up his cars like we ride.  When he shared the story of Rainelle with his family his grandkids wanted to help.  They each gave me an envelope as did his wife.  He told me that they were donating from their vacation money and it may only be a couple dollars. I told him it did not matter how much they gave. It was the fact that they were giving that was incredible. When I opened the envelopes, his wife had donated $100 and each of the grandkids donated a $50 bill.

Let's get the day started.

The Outreach team is a very behind the scenes team.  They visit gold star families and they will express their condolences for their loss and thank them for service and sacrifice to their country.  There is also a Gold Star coin and a certificate of appreciation from RFTW.   They will pray with them and many times cry with them. They have found that these families want to talk about the ones the have lost. Outreach helps with this healing. Last year the met with over 50 families.

            Thanks, Outreach, for your time with our Gold Star families.

Patrick, (on the left) the person carrying the signature book for the Kentucky MIA, thanked everyone that signed it and said how amazing it was to do as an FNG.  He has collected items on the way to give to the family. He also found out the MIA had a 1/2 brother that was on  the USS Arizona.  The outreach team is giving Patrick a coin to add to the items in the bag.

Josh is also an FNG.  His dad rode about 20 years ago.  His dad has talked about the Run for year. This year Josh's employer gave him 3 weeks of PTO. Coincidence?  He was shocked and knew exactly what to do with it.  Ok Dad, we are going to do this ride. He had heard about it for year but was blown away what he experience.  It was more than he could image.  

Chaplain Marius blew us away as he sang a song he wrote. I am going to try and get the lyric. If I do not, please go to "Run for the Wall by Marius Calugaru".  There were a lot with allergies kicking with this one and we were inside.  What a great tribute to the Run.

Leaving Nitro, there were kids from the school shouting "USA,USA,..".  Then they all stopped and said the Pledge of Allegiance to us. What a send off. 

Heading to the capital in Charleston.  MORE KIDS!!!  Loving it.

For years, Jared McCormick, stood saluting as the pack passes.

He has done this since he was one year old.  He is now 23 and never missed a year until this year.   He did not want to miss it so his mom facetimes him. This is the impact the Run has on a young man.  Many of the Run participants look for him to be there.  We stopped and chatted with him.  He said he will NOT miss next year.  We are a huge part of his life.

  

2017

 His grandmother worked in one of the buildings in the capital.  The grandmother's husband is a Vietnam vet. He served from 1966-1969.  One year actually in Vietnam as a radio operator.

They have been married for 53 years.  I admire all the women who have stayed with their husbands from the Vietnam War (or any war).  They too have suffered.  Many of our soldiers have changed and have problems with coping yet the spouses have stayed with them. Thanks ladies.  This goes also for any women that served.  Thanks, guys, for sticking with your wives.

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Gold Star wall in Charleston. 

It is the first Gold Star Families Memorial Monument.  It is beautiful.

There are 4 panels:

The Homeland panel features images representing the wild and wonderful state of West Virginia. It is home to many Gold Star Families. It is our people, it is our home. It is our Freedom. 

The Family panel represents the uniquely brave spirit of our military families who provide support to their Loved Ones serving in our Armed Forces of the United States of America.

The Patriot panel shows the raising of the American Flag on Iwo Jima, which symbolizes those who vigorously support and defend our great Nation through selfless service in our Armed Forces.

The Sacrifice panel represents the sacrifices made by our Gold Star Families by the loss of their Loved One while in service to our country.

At the center of the tribute is a silhouette of a saluting service member, which represents the void created by the loss of the loved ones who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

There is a second monument:

West Virginia Veterans Memorial 

It is a two-story oval shaped monument honoring more than 10,000 West Virginians who made the ultimate sacrifice in defending the nation in twentieth century conflicts. Composed of four limestone monoliths surrounded by a reflecting pool, the interior walls are faced in polished black granite etched with the names of these men and women. The 4 wars are WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.   On the inside are the names of those from WV that died.  Incredible.

On the outside is a statue like this for all 4 wars.  Beautiful and sad.  

Sad to see so many names of those that gave their ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Todd, the ARC for this year, is also the West "By God" Virginia state coordinator. Like the others, he organizes the event, speakers, and lots of other things.

This year he had someone reach out to him and asked to come and thank us for what we do.

Jessica Lynch

commons.wikimedia.org

Mamie Mae Burke / Public domain

Jessica Lynch is a former U.S. Army Private First Class who became known for being one of the first American women captured during the Iraq War in 2003.

RFTW has a POW that was with her: Joseph Hudson, AKA Gump. He rides with southern route.

Goodle:

Prisoner of war

The mission was simple, at least on paper: Follow a convoy north to Baghdad, then split off to two designated positions. Lynch’s unit had GPS devices, radios and maps. But by the second day, nearly everything went wrong.

Her convoy got lost outside the city of Nasiriyah, and her unit was 19 hours behind the main force. Lost and cut off, they drove straight into an ambush.

“Lori was driving the Humvee. We were hit, and then an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) slammed us into the back of a truck,” said Lynch, who blacked out after the impact. When she finally came to, she was no longer a soldier in battle — she was a captive.

Lynch later learned 11 of her comrades in her unit were killed, including Piestewa, who died on March 23, 2003, at Saddam Hussein General Hospital. She was the first Native American woman to die in combat for the U.S. military.

In captivity, Lynch’s injuries were staggering: a broken back, a shattered arm, a crushed foot. She was starved, filmed for propaganda and moved from room to room in a hostile hospital.

“They told me they would amputate my leg,” she said. “I had no idea if I would survive.”

On April 1, 2003, U.S. Special Forces stormed the hospital, which shook with explosions and gunfire. Lynch thought the building was under attack until a soldier burst into her room and tore the American flag from his uniform.

“He told me, ‘We’re Americans, and we’re here to take you home,’” she recalled. “I said, ‘I’m an American soldier too.’”

Weighing just 76 pounds, Lynch was evacuated by helicopter, flown to Kuwait, then to Germany. The rescue was broadcast worldwide, her frail body carried on a stretcher and her survival a symbol of hope amid the chaos of war.

Her rescue was the first successful recovery of an American prisoner of war since World War II and the first ever of a woman.

Life after Iraq

The road to recovery was was long and grueling: eight surgeries, metal rods, a body that still carries the scars of Iraq. Malnourished, broken and barely 20, Lynch had to relearn how to walk, how to trust, how to live. She said therapy sessions did not work.

“What worked was being with my family and friends, and people who understood me,” she said. More than anything, her fellow POWs kept her grounded. Their group text, she added with a grin, “is hysterical. We bust each other’s bubbles constantly. That’s our therapy.”

Lynch was medically discharged in July 2003 but refused to stop where the Army left her. She returned to school, earned degrees in education and communication, and today works both as a substitute teacher and as the women veterans program director in West Virginia.

Two decades removed from that dusty road in Nasiriyah, Lynch continues to tell her story not to relive the trauma, but to share its lesson.

“No matter what you’re faced with in life, just don’t give up,” she said. “You’ll get there. Keep fighting. Keep persevering.”

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 She thanked us for what we do and said: We will not stop until all come home.

Group picture by the capital building and we are off.

Beautiful ride as we head to our final destination , Rainelle school.  

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And the people along the way!!!

young....

...and old.

We roll into Rainelle.  And you can hear them screaming over the roar of the engines.

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There are even pre-school ones that will grow up learning about our veterans.

  

We head up to the school and the kids all have little booklets that they want us to sign.  We today are their stars.

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Some riders even had the kids sign their shirts.

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He even got the teachers to sign.  LOL

Since RFTW has been coming here for 36 years, there has to be a few generations, right?

The older kids here are the kids of the first one seeing RFTW come in. They now have kids.

Here, the lady on the right was 14 in 1989, the first year.  Her grandmother welcomed the riders into her home to help anyway she could.  She has 6 kids and 12 grandkids and they all know about the veterans. The lady on the right is one of her kids.

We prepare for the ceremony and the Rainelle kids say the Pledge of Allegiance loud and proud. Next is the singing of our National Anthem.  No better sound than kids that young knowing and singing loud every word.

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Kim is the principal of the school.  She is soooo grateful for all that RFTW has done for this community especially the kids.

Here is a list of the things the money goes toward.

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As I was leaving, I stopped to thank these ladies for coming out.  Turns out that most of the were the mothers of the students in 1989.  They try not to miss any year when the Run comes thru.  What a great legacy. 

All you prayer warriors knocked it out of the park again today.  We had clear and dry roads up and over the mountain to Rainelle.  Keep it going, we are looking at rain all day tomorrow as we get into DC, and on Saturday while in DC.

Temps: 53-68 

Route: I-64E, Rt 60

Miles: 121

Quote:  The Price of Freedom is Written on the Wall