PGR 2-23-08 Iwo Jima Survivor's Reunion Pt I

On 2-23-08, the PGR (Patriot Guard Riders) were invited to be the honor guard for the Iwo Jima Survivor's Reunion at the Howard Johnson's in Wichita Falls. We met at McDonald's from 0730-0815. We had members from as far as Dallas show up. There were approximately 80-100 bikes which caused some parking problems at McDonald's. But from all the money they made off of us, it was a good trade off. Here are some of the guys inside McDonald's. ALSO.. these pics were sent to me by Cecil, our road Captain & my good friend Russ. I left my camera at home....You can see Cecil in the above pic, standing in the back pointing. He was giving directions to Howard Johnson's to some of the Ft. Worth guys.

Some of the guys bikes.

Some cars took our parking spots!!!!

More bikes parked into the exit lane of Mickey D's..

More of the bikes

More of the bikes

Here is the group coming into the parking lot at Howard Johnson's. There were bikes everywhere..

Russ took this pic of me while we were walking to the truck to get our flags...

Once inside Howard Johnson's, we lined both sides of the halls from the lobby all the way to the ballroom. I must say it was quite impressive I am on the right peeking out at Russ between the flag & pole.( I am wearing the camo ballcap.)

This is the end of the line. When the survivor's had walked the line of honor, they exited here & made a left turn into the ballroom.

The line down one of the hallways.

Another view of the final flags in the line

The line of honor

Some of the guys yakking it up prior to the survivor's arrival.

The line down the second hall.. That is Russ on the right in the levi vest.

The line waiting for the survivor's to arrive.

The main hall & line of honor.

That's it for now..Thanks again to Cecil & Russ for sending me the pics. And to all you Vet's out there: Because of what you did & sacrificed allows us to honor you this way today...Semper Fi to all you guys in the USMC & a big thank you to all the other vets of the other military branches!!! JOB WELL DONE!!!! Remember: if ya want to see it bigger, click the pic......Until next time: don't forget to thank a Vet............John

PGR 2-23-08 Iwo Jima Survivor's Reunion Pt II

A continuation of the PGR Honor Guard at the Iwo Jima Survivor's Reunion on 23 Feb 08. The survivor's proceed through the line of honor.

Another Survivor made it through the line. The veterans really enjoyed the flags as you can see by this vet's smiles.

More survivor's at the end of the flag line

Survivor's coming through. Not only did the actual veterans come through but also family members of some vets that had passed on also.

When everyone was in the ballroom, we put up the flags and were invited in to watch the reenactment of the raising of the flag on Mt. Suribachi. Here we are lining the walls. That is Charles in the watch cap & me in the camo ball cap

Back wall lined with PGR members.

Another shot of PGR members on the back wall

The place was full of vets, family members, PGR members & press

The main speaker was Medal of Honor winner, Hershel W. Williams. He won the MOH on 23 Feb 45. For more info, go to this link, highlight WWII-T-Z & scroll down to his name. It will give you the Presidential citation as to what he did that day on Iwo Jima. http://www.history.army.mil/moh.html

This was the reenactment of the raising of the flag. When that flag went up, the room went nuts.

Another view of the raising of the flag.

Yet another view..Those Marines doing the reenactment stood & squatted like that for a good 25 minutes & they did not move a muscle!!

Another view.

The Marines that did the reenactment are stationed out at the Marine Corp Detachment at Sheppard AFB.

Here are several pics of the survivors of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The survivor's of the Battle of Iwo Jima

Another view of the survivors

A final view of the survivors

The last thing they (survivor's) did that morning prior to our leaving, was to sign a PGR flag. The flag is being sent to the troops in Iraq. All veterans that day, young & old signed the flag with a brief message to the troops. I signed just under the PA of Patriot a little while after this veteran signed.

Signing the PGR flag.

That's it for now. Remember: if ya want to see it bigger, click on the picture....Until next post..........JOHN

South on Texas 79 -Archer City & Olney 3-1-08

Saturday 3-1-08, was sunny & 79 degrees out with a light wind. I was bored & Janice was napping because she had to go to work that afternoon. I wanted to take the bike out for a ride. I asked Amy & Amanda if they wanted to go but neither wanted to. So I got on the bike & rode to Russ & Linda's. They weren't home. Found out I just missed them because they left about 10 minutes before I got there to ride up to the Wichita Mountains outside of Lawton Oklahoma. So, I set off for Olney Texas which is 41 miles South of Wichita Falls on Texas 79. These photo's are of that short but fun ride. The first pic is of the Texas 79 sign.

This is the Archer City limit sign. This is were they filmed the movie "Texasville". Janice is in that movie as an extra at the rodeo scene. She is the girl in the blue dress. Anyway, that water tower you see in the pic is the one the guys were on in the town party scene.

As I drove through Archer City, I saw this on the side of the road. It was about 5 feet wide & 6 feet long & was made out of iron. It is a horny toad with an ant on its tongue..I thought this was pretty kewl.

Another pic of the iron toad. It stands maybe 2 1/2-3 feet high.

Archer County had been having some bad grass fires during February. They were even talking about evacuating Archer City. Here are some pics of the burned fields & pancake cactus's that got burned up. That hill in the background is about a mile away and is burned all around it and past it.

Close up of the burned cactus's

The bike with the scorched earth beyond it..That's all you could smell for miles is that smoke smell. That & dead skunks every 1/2 mile from Wichita Falls southward..It was a bad week for skunks trying to cross Tx 79 too.

This is what the cactus's should of looked like. These are in my backyard & started out as just 2 pancake's. They add more every year which is pretty amazing.

For those of you surfing the blogs & have never seen a mesquite patch, then today's your lucky day. This is a mesquite patch off of Tx 79 & if you ever have to go through one (I have been through many while hunting), watch out for the thorns on the branches of these bad boys. I have seen thorns over two inches long and they are sharp!!

The bike on the shoulder of the road on Tx 79 somewhere between Archer City & Olney.

At last, the Olney City limit sign. I drove on for about 1/2 mile, didn't see anything very interesting , so I turned around & headed home.

Getting ready to made a U-turn & head back North on Tx 79 from Olney. Its a fun ride & kills an hour or so. This is the view back North from the just outside of Olney.

That's it for now, If ya wanna see the pic bigger, click on the pic.....Until next time....John