Day 11: Mission Complete

Once again, my heart is in my throat and my “allergies” have been in full bloom. Today, we went to Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, and The Vietnam Memorial… “The Wall”. It was an incredible experience. The Wall consumes you, it’s size conveys the truth that the loss of 58,220 souls is enormous.  At first I felt as if my presence there was but a small thing in comparison, but that is not so. I have a huge intrinsic value, placed there by The Creator. I am not bigger, nor smaller, than any of those brave men listed there, but the sheer number of lives lost is staggering and The Wall conveys that importance to great effect.

Likewise, was the experience at Arlington. Row after row of neatly lined, flag adorned headstones is a sobering reminder of the cost of my freedom. Without the shedding of blood, no man can be free. It’s true for Countries, and it’s true for individuals. Military men and women, lay down their lives for their countries and Jesus laid down His life for mine.  It’s a truth as old as the world itself. I’m very blessed to live in this great nation, founded on Godly principles and fought for by hundreds of thousands of brave men and women, many of whom have lost their lives in battle. This is the reason for Memorial Day. We must never forget.

We had four missions at The Wall. 1. Get a rubbing of the name Thomas Utter. He’s the hero for whom my dad rode in the missing man formation. Dad will take this rubbing back and give it to a soldier who served with Thomas and survived Vietnam. 2. Get a rubbing of Gary Miller. Gary is a soldier friend of the man I met in a grocery store in Ontario the day before the official start of Run For The Wall. I will mail this rubbing to the man I met, along with the USA flag flown on the back of my motorcycle on our journey. One very cool “coincidence” (God’s divine intervention), both of these names appear on the same panel of The Wall. No way we could’ve planned or seen that coming. This is just one more reminder of how God has had His hand all over our mission.  3. Delver to The Wall the photo of Popcorn Billy’s brother Bobby.   4. Last but most certainly not least, deliver to The Wall the flag we were entrusted with at the Orting Old Soldier’s Home from GySgt Shirey’s Memorial.  Mission accomplished on all accounts.

In the Vietnam War, new guys added to a platoon were called FNG’s.  The first word is a common cuss word that I won’t print here. This term was common because the new guys with limited to no experience were harder to keep alive in battle and generally made mistakes that meant injury or death for someone else. The Run For The Wall has adopted the term FNG but has traded out the first word for “Friendly” or “Fine”. The Run gives great respect and honor to these Friendly New Guys/Gals. Veterans are encouraged to regularly seek out FNG’s and ask if they need anything, give them a hug, a listening ear, and help in any way possible to Welcome Them Home and make this journey to The Wall as meaningful and as healing as possible. Every FNG is given a button upon registration, identifying them as such. At The Wall, to signify completing the mission, it’s customary to have someone turn that button upside down.  When my button was flipped, it was very emotional for me. I’d not realized how much it would mean to me to complete what we started. Dan “Boilermaker” Koster gave me the honor of turning my button. Dan isn’t a veteran but his patriotism and respect for veterans is epic. While I met some absolutely astounding people on this mission, Dan was a standout. I couldn’t have asked for a better man to be there for me at the end.

Tomorrow, we begin our journey home. Our plans are to divert into Gettysburg for a brief visit and then head for an overnight stop near Cleveland. Thanks for making this journey with us. It’s been a huge honor knowing so many are praying for us and The Run For The Wall.

Here are some other resources to review for the Run For The Wall experience. 1. Mama G’s Blog. Lots of pictures here.  2. Major Dan Clark’s Blog. A good, 3rd party, reporter style accounting of our mission.

Pictures are below: