Ride Report posted for Tray

 

The day started out overcast and rainy.  I was thinking about the missions occurring earlier in the day and I was hoping all my Warrior Watch Brothers were safe performing their heartfelt missions for the wonderful heroes of this country.  As I left my home for the 30-minute ride to the staging area, my thoughts turned to my mission.  It was still overcast and I was riding in and out of the rain, and I was thinking this weather is not going to put a damper on the mission, to welcome home our soldier and thank him for his service and sacrifice he has made to his country.  Then I thought, what I am going through now is nothing compared to what he, PFC Richard Gilliam III, has gone through. PFC Richard Gilliam III always wanted to serve.  Both of his grandfathers served, Richard was carrying on an honorable family tradition.  As I pulled into the parking lot of the staging area, I was greeted by a fellow WWR brother with Old Glory flying and a “Welcome Home PFC Gilliam” painted on the windows of his vehicle. 

 

 

I instantly felt proud to be a part of this organization, no matter how small a part I would play.  This WWR brother greeted me like I was family and yet I had never met the man… and that is what this organization is all about, a common goal shared by it’s members to honor our nation’s heroes and this is what we were here to do.  In a few short minutes, our LEO, a welcomed member of the Chicago PD arrived.  As we went over the details, the officer seemed to have a sense of pride in escorting the WWR to our soldier’s home, very humbling I thought.  Within the next 30 minutes, 8 motorcycles and another cage arrived to complete our motorcade for the short ride to our soldier’s welcome home celebration.  Each arrived from a different area, but with the same purpose, to welcome our soldier home and thank him for his service to his country and to let him know we, the Warrior Watch Riders, support him and appreciate what he has sacrificed for his country and above all, let our soldier know, we have his back here at home.  This was also a special day for our soldier as it was also a belated 21st birthday celebration, as the Ride Captain, I thought a birthday card would be appropriate and I threw in a few dollars, all of the WWR members, without reserve, signed the card and tossed in a few dollars to make our soldier’s home coming an even more memorable event.  As the remaining members of the WWR group arrived, the rain stopped, the cloud cover broke and the sun came out with the bluest sky one could imagine.  I was thinking “I could not have planned this better if I tried”, then I thanked “The Man Upstairs” for watching over our soldier and us for providing a perfect afternoon for our soldier’s welcome home.  As planned, I made a call to our soldier’s Mom to let her know we would be arriving in a few short minutes, she thanked me profusely, as I was thinking to myself, how ironic, no, we were there to thank your son, our soldier for his service and you for parenting an individual who thought it worthy to join the U.S. Army to defend our freedom.  We left the staging area with our LEO providing an escort with flags flying, with lights and sirens on for the LEO and horns and lights flashing for the Warriors Watch Riders, along with the sound of revving engines to further create a sound in the neighborhood not heard on a “regular basis”, the residents knew something special was going to happen.  It was a magnificent site through the neighborhood as people noticed, “something was going on”, not quite sure what, but something was happening in this quite Chicago neighborhood.  We turned the corner on the street to our soldier’s home and saw a large group of family and friends gathered in the front yard, we stopped in front of the house, and proceeded to meet our soldier and his parents to thank him for his service and sacrifice to this grateful nation.  Our soldier, PFC Richard Gilliam III was presented with an Honor Coin, Certificate and Honor Beads.  Thanks to Russ for “Having My Back” as I lost it and was not able to explain to our soldier the significance of the Honor Beads.  Our soldier was also given our birthday card and wishes.  We thanked our soldier for his service and his parents for their dedication.  Our soldier was completely surprised and not expecting the engagement of the Warriors Watch Riders to honor his accomplishments.  Our soldier was greeted with numerous handshakes and hugs to Thank Him for his courage and honor to his country.  He was humbled as we were by the experience and was happy and thankful to us for honoring him.  His parents were also very grateful we were there to honor their son.  Our soldier also signed the WWR Heroes’ Banner, a banner that will be at WWR missions around the region to capture the autographs of our American heroes.  The WWR group was invited to stay at the family gathering, but as always, we declined only to disappear into the void of the Chicago streetscape, but not without making lots of noise on our graceful exit. PFC Richard Gilliam III, you are truly an American Hero and we, the WWR, thank you for your service to this country.  WWR Mission Accomplished!