Posted on 04/24/2022 8:29:47 AM PDT by Cold War Veteran - Submarines
First, to take care of some business I did send Jim some $$ for posting a vanity.
I haven’t posted much recently for various reasons but I read FR daily to keep up and continue to be a supporter both personally and financially. I feel compelled to post about an event that happened here in North Texas last Wednesday.
It was put to me that a group of veterans was going to escort a few Medal of Honor winners from DFW to Gainesville for some events over the upcoming week. I was off so I figured I would ride along. We met up at a local Harley dealer with a group from the Combat Veterans Association club, one of whom I know and had invited me. Then we cruised to a second staging area and picked up a few more riders. We had around 20 bikes. Then we rode to the main staging area and as we turned the corner I realized this was a bit more than just a ride. The gathering vets on bikes was huge. I suck at estimating numbers but suffice to say there were a lot of bikes.
Once the bus with the MOH winners arrive from the airport there was a main escort out front of the bus, a secondary primary escort group and then the rest of us. We made our way to I35 with the police escort shutting down the various freeways we were on. On a couple of the overpasses I could see the row of bikes stretching as far as I could see and I started to get a pretty emotional feeling. As we proceeded every overpass was packed with fire trucks with American flags and tons of people waving American flags and holding signs that said, among other things, Thank You Vets. My personal emotions were running pretty high by now watching the crowds along the freeway waving at us. One particular moment that will remain in my memories forever was as we were changing freeways over a bridge there was a spot on that bridge where there really wasn’t a shoulder but the cement strip before the railing there was an old man standing at rigid attention saluting us as we rode by. That brought forth a bit of moisture in my eyes. As more and more crowds were there the magnitude of what we were doing had this 62 year old tearing up.
We made our way up to Gainesville and the crowds never abated. Where they couldn’t get onto the overpass they were on the shoulder of the bridges. Groups of pickup trucks, cars, ATVs just gathering to wave us along. There were American flags everywhere. Contracting companies had their fleets of vehicle parked in formation with their uniformed employees standing in formation to honor us. All of the parking lots of the various little strip malls were packed with people waving. There was one stretch of farm land with a two lane road where there were a few houses surrounded by nothing but fields where a little old lady with no legs in a wheel chair had managed to get to the corner and she was waving a little American flag.
The news reports said we had 9 miles of bikes all two abreast escorting the 23 MOH winners to the events in Gainesville. As it turns out, this is a yearly event and I can promise that I will be there every year to experience this type of raw American pride. I have ridden in more than few organized rides over the years but this event has risen to the top of my experiences.
To see that type of patriotism really brushed aside the crap that we as a country are going through these days and gave me a true sense of hope. Somehow we need to export this to the rest of the country and although I am transplant to this state, God Bless Texas.
Any graphics??
I suck at posting pics but here are a couple of news reports:
https://www.fox4news.com/news/motorcade-brings-medal-of-honor-recipients-to-gainesville
I have no trouble forming mental images of what you described. Powerful images, actually.
Thanks
Not a week goes by that I don’t say to my spouse “Thank God we live in Texas” when I read of so much of the garbage happening in other states or being proposed.
There are 3530 MOH recipients. Seventy-four are still living and 23 were honored at the Gainsville event this week. A list of the 3530 is here, https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/page/74?mt=living%20history
God bless you, too.
Wonderful!!
Thanks for posting.
Thanks for your service!!
Texas......a whole other country.
Thanks for posting, serving and supporting veteran causes. One little personal nitt pick. The MoH is awarded, not won. Just reading MoH citations you realize there’s not a lot of winning there.
The story made the news in Tyler.
God Blessed Texas by Little Texas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBzffkGVnqs
(featuring the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders)
warning: cleavage and jiggle.
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