Posted on 05/29/2008 3:35:50 AM PDT by kburi
FRIDAY EVENING, WALTER REED FRONT GATE:
Friday, May 23rd. The beginning of Memorial Day weekend. For the first time in several weeks, we have a pleasant late spring evening with no rain in sight
MEMORIAL DAY COLORS AT WALTER REED
Memorial Day – a day of remembering and honoring the sacrifice of Americans killed in war. A day on which all Americans should reflect on the price paid by the war dead for our freedoms. A day and weekend, during which we have the opportunity to pass these sacrifices and their reasons to our children who must continue this vital remembrance.
Memorial Day also brings many veterans, families, members of Rolling Thunder, Gathering of Eagles, Move America Forward, Families United, America’s Wounded Heroes and other patriotic groups to Washington, DC. And a number often stop by Free Republic’s Friday night FREEP at Walter Reed.
Tonight was lively and loud with a lot of interaction on all of our four corners at the front gate. As always, VictoryNewYork led our vocal support and she turned up the volume when a visiting GOE’r lent her a bull horn. The traffic was heavy and the honks, waves and supportive comments from both drivers and passengers were constant for almost three hours. The drivers’ loud support kept the lethargic measly nine moonbats, aka “the dis-loyal opposition”, half way down the block from going to sleep. They did, of course, leave exactly at nine as they always do.
Because this was Memorial Day weekend, there was no returning bus to welcome, but our presence will always be there, bus or not.
FRIDAY EVENING VISITORS:
Some of our visitors were visiting first timers and several were repeaters who drop by when they are in DC. All are welcome and we enjoy meeting everyone. As you will see in the photos, we were energized by a number of youngsters brought by their parents. They joined VictoryNewYork and added an extra level of enthusiasm. Pictures are by (Mrs) Trooprally.
VICTORYNEWYORK, CHIEF, CINDY_TRUE_SUPPORTER AT THE FRONT GATE!
Our visitors included:
Joshua, who did two tours in Kosovo and was wounded in Iraq, was joined by his wife Melissa, and their daughter Savannah. Melissa’s dad, Jerry, a Viet Nam veteran was with them. Joshua and Jerry were both “coined “ by a chaplain at the Pentagon Friday. We saw the handsomely inscribed coins which are passed to veterans during a handshake.
JOSHUA, JERRY and TJ
Kit, former U S Air Force, and a GOE from Tulsa, was with friend Chris from NJ. With them was Suezi, Kit’s mom from Denver and an active GOE member.
KIT, CHRIS, AND TJ
KIT, CHRIS, SUEZI and TJ
From near-by Bethesda, Lee and brother-in-law, Innis, were first time visitors. Innis’ two daughters, Sophie and Vivian joined them. They had attended two recent GOE events in DC and visited Free Republic’s tent in March.
INNIS WITH FRAXINUS 
LEE WITH NIECE 
Joining us were Deborah from Jacksonville, NC, and Brandy, from Hawaii. Both had husbands killed in combat in Iraq. With them were five attractive and very lively young children. They were at Walter Reed to attend TAPS (the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors). This important program is for children and is held on the Memorial Day weekend.
DEBORAH AND TROOPRALLY
BRANDY AND RONGKIRBY
DEBORAH AND CHILDREN
HONOR ROLL:
BufordP, Chief, Cindy_True_Supporter, Fraxinus, Kburi, Lurker Bill, Paltz, Rongkirby, SatinPatriot, Sensi Ern, TJ, Tom the Redhunter, (Mr. and Mrs.) Trooprally, VaFlagwaver, VictoryNewYork,
BUFORDP
DEBORAH {Florida), KBURI AND VAFLAGWAVER
TROOPRALLY AND RONGKIRBY
LURKER BILL 
A YOUNG SUPPORTER
Deborah and Mike from Florida, and are with both Gathering of Eagles and Rolling Thunder. They are here for the Rolling Thunder events Friday through Sunday.
MIKE (Florida) AND TROOPRALLY - Early Arrivers
Don’t miss this AAR!
Badda-bump.
Great job EVERYONE!
kburi - thanks for posting the AAR!
Hey all! Plan on being there Friday. May have to leave early, though.
[Mrs T]
Lookin’ good....as usual.
Thanks for the photos!
Great AAR!!! Love those cutie-pie kids.
you are most welcome.
Long time no hear.
[Mrs T]
Mr. and Mrs. T,
Great to see you again! The kids had a great time...we’ll have to do it again soon :)
Wish we could be there more often with you guys!
HUGS!
Most excellent AAR, kburi. Thank you. I so look forward to these reports every week. Great Pictures too Mrs. T.
The pictures of the children are great. They all look so sweet. Glad you could be there deb. Thank you for your sacrifice for America. You are one of the heroes we applaud. God bless you.
Glad to see you got the report and saw the photos.
I’ll be there soon.
Why don’t you get on the DC Ping list. Ask BufordP to include you.
Great job...I felt like I was there while reading it.
I wish!!
Suezi and Kit did have a lot of fun at Walter Reed, they said it was THE HIGHLIGHT of their entire trip. Kit has a post up on
http://euphoricreality.com/2008/05/27/dc-trip-2008
VAFLagWaver helped them get inside Walter Reed to meet with the Troops that Kit talks about.
Sounds like your wife and I don’t need to go back to Berkeley anymore, Michelle Malkin said “Pinkos are Shrinking” —
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/05/27/shrinking-pinkos-in-berkeley
and 500-700 pro-military motorcycle riders are going to be there June 21st. Your wife really did put the Berkeley City Council in their proper place “Shame on You!”, she said -— it was AWESOME to be there.
See her in action against large moonbats.
(Deborah Parrish (left) and Forrest Schmidt engage in a discussion at Berkeley’s Civic Center Plaza, early Tuesday. Chronicle photo by Paul Chinn)
Thank you for the wonderful report and thanks to all that could be there.
Not to worry, it’s just good to see you and the kids.
We’re real glad the kids had such a great time. Hope it helps them to see so much support for our troops.
Take care till next time we see each other.
[Mr] T for both of us.
Great report and pictures. Love the Memorial Day colors and those kids are young, cute supporters! A great FReep. God Bless you all.
Good to see Deb made it out there. I miss you guys!
Ruth
She and another Gold Star Wife (from Hawaii) were there with their kids. The kids enjoyed being there more than we did.
Yea, distances are tough, but friends we’ll all be, always.
[Mr] T
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