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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!

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!




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.

    

The many faces of Uncle Johnnie...



We've never been to the Capitol before so today was a special day for both of us.

 

After taking a few pictures we decided to head over to WWII Memorial.
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".  




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.

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!

Back to the Barracks...     

Click tent to go back to front page or
 the Memorial Garden to visit my WWII Memorial Photo Gallery.