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The Sergeant
John W. Gabersek Jr. Memorial Scholarship
Memorial Day -
May 25th, 2008
Pictures from Washington DC
Uncle
Johnnie and I visit the Iwo Jima Memorial,
The Capitol Building and the WWII Memorial!
John and I started the day getting stuck in traffic across the
Potomac with many of the streets blocked off to clear the way for the annual
"Rolling Thunder"; an awesome and inspiring event with over 1/2 million
motorcycles! The motto of these leather clad Patriots, "Gone, but not
forgotten." serves to capture the spirit of Memorial Day. Being such a beautiful day, we decided to have lunch with our
bronze buddies over at the Marine Corps Memorial under the shade of trees.
After their ride, many of the cyclists started arriving at the Memorial, some riding all the way
from Arizona. A group of men and women spotted John and came up to say
thanks. We we spent the next 2 hours enjoying the company of some of America's
finest fighting men and their families. Shortly after lunch we stepped
into the sun, met some more WWII era heroes & the mom of one of our fallen
soldiers in Iraq. It was a memorable start to a great Memorial day!
John and I headed over to the Capitol and our luck continued as we were the first car
let through onto Potomac Park Drive. This is were many of the cyclists
park their bikes after their ride though D.C.. We were alone in a sea of
gleaming machines, hogs, choppers, fat boys, full dressers and a bunch of guys who
looked like ZZ-Top.
After taking a few pictures we decided to head over to WWII
Memorial.
I brought with me my photo albums for our countrymen to enjoy, handed out photo cards of Great Uncle's Amin and Johnnie,
and brought along copies of Amin's Framed Certificates.
Unfortunately my camera gave out just as I snapped the grouping of certificates, a Beach Battalion Helmet, Amin's portrait and our flag as it lie in front of the
D-Day story located at the Memorial. I guess it just wasn't to be.
Click tent to go back to front page or
The photos below are compliments of Robin Grubb and Debbie
Karriker. Robin and Debbie are
are members of Our Ladies of Harley of Concord North Carolina. Their
group, along with their parent group
The Speedway Chapter
of HOG (Harley Owners Group) participates in a variety of events to honor
those
who have served our country. Thank you Robin and Debbie for being so
kind to John and I and
for your dedication towards our veterans, country, and citizenship!
The many faces of Uncle Johnnie...
We've never been to the Capitol before so today was a special day
for both of us.
But before we did we ran into a full squad of the Capitol Police.
These men were awesome and John and I were so impressed!
The boys in blue provided us some ice cold H20,
posed for some unforgettable pictures,
and much to my delight and surprise deputized Johnnie
with a U.S. Capitol Police Pin!
John was so moved you can see his tears of gratitude.
Thank you fella's for keeping us safe!
At the Memorial wouldn't you know it but our luck continued as we ran into Bud
and Linda Hanson again. We felt like Forrest Gump as we have met Bud and
Linda 3 times now purely by coincidence. After addressing more camera
malfunctions I snapped a few more pictures of John's and Bud's adoring "fans".
So we headed off to dinner stopping at the I-HOP in Crystal City.
Johnnie doesn't have any teeth, so I thought a stack of pancakes might fill our
belly's with not too much trouble. Still in our uniforms we were seated
and were immediately greeted by Air Force Reservist Brian and his family from
Alabama. What a proud group of American's! We were treated like
heroes and I am happy to say that patriotism certainly still lives on in our great country!
Thank you Brian for your service to our great country. May God continue to
bless you and your family. Many thanks as well to our lovely server, Miss
El Salvador, and for the many people who clapped for John and I as we walked to
the door. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
the Memorial Garden to visit my WWII Memorial Photo Gallery.