Ride Report posted for Liftlink

 

On Sunday evening, April 25th, Warriors’ Watch Riders and A Hero’s Welcome escorted Lcpl Duane (DJ) Longfellow and his family from Philadelphia Airport to a reception at the American Legion Hall in Doylestown, Pa.  DJ was returning from a tour in Afghanistan where he served as a gunner on an MRAP (mine resistant ambush protected vehicle) and, for a short time, his regular MOS as a welder.  Since DJ deployed directly from his unit in Okinawa, the family hadn’t seen him for 17 months.

 

WWR and AHW met the Longfellow family at the Engine 69 firehouse around 4:00 PM.  We planned to go  KSU at 4:30 but a check of the flight status showed that the plane was a half hour behind schedule.  The skies were overcast and it had rained earlier in the day.  Rain was forecast for later in the evening but we were hoping to squeeze the escort in between.  That was not to happen.  Around 5:10 we left for the airport; 6 bikes and 15 cages.

 

We lined up our vehicles outside the terminal and set up flag lines inside.  A check of the arrival monitor showed that DJ’s flight had been pushed back an additional half hour.  It was now due at 6:09.  Mom, Eileen, and dad, Duane W. and four other family members connected with USO and went in the concourse to the arrival gate.  We waited.  Finally around 6:15 the status on the monitor turned over to “At Gate.”  We waited.  Another half hour passed before we got the call that they were on their way out.  The remainder of the family members, AHW, and other passengers on the flight cheered our hero as he came out of the concourse, with the Channel 6 cameraman looking on.  Everyone was beaming as they came down the escalator through the WWR flag line.  We coined DJ, took some pictures and headed for our vehicles. 

 

The State Trooper that led our procession out of the airport was also a Marine and he now has a WWR coin in his pocket too.  About 10 minutes down the road a light rain began to fall and continued, heavier at times, for the remainder of the hour-plus ride to the reception.  We received excellent LEO support all along the way.  Mom later told us that DJ was laughing in disbelief at all the police cars and the spectacle of our procession.  Our line of vehicles grew as other WWR members joined in closer to the destination, and we made quite a splash, pun intended, as we rolled into the Legion parking lot in Doylestown with lights flashing, horns blaring, and throttles cracking.

 

Friends from Semper Fi Families and VFW Post 175, and extended family greeted us as we arrived.  Inside, Pastor Paul from the Longfellow’s church, who rode his Yamaha cruiser on the escort with us, said a prayer of thanks for DJ’s safe return. 

 

Lcpl Duane Longfellow, welcome home to the loving arms of a grateful nation.

 

Jim “liftlink”  RC