Ride Report posted for OOpsie

Ensign Keven Haggerty arrived back in the states on March 7th  after serving a 1 year tour in Africa. Before he could come home he had debriefing, reports, medical and who knows what else to file.  I was notified on the 9th  his welcome home was a go. He was ready to come home earlier, just like all our soldiers who are away, but paper work first. We finally got word it was be confirmed he was coming in on Friday, 3/13/09 or Saturday, 3/14/09.  On Wednesday the 11th we got the final word it was all happening on Friday March 13th.
Keven wanted to get home so bad he was going to try for a “Red Eye” flight on Thursday the 12th., but Jan, his wife, held him off.  Of course Keven did not understand why she would not want to see him as soon as possible, but being clever gave a reason that was fully accepted. Thanks to Jan we did not have to do a “He’s coming home a day earlier scramble.”

It was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature in the upper 40’s. We had 40 plus people and 7 bikes attend his welcome home.

Touch down of Keven’s plane was to be at 3:30pm but his flight was late arriving in at 4pm. Traffic was in full rush hour from the city making it a longer delay.

Keven, Jan and her friend arrived at Chili’s at 5:10. You could see Keven with an ear to ear smile upon seeing the Warriors’ Watch Riders in a sea of flags, hooting and cheering. It left him speechless, to say the least. Much to his surprise his daughters and grand children were standing in the flag line to Honor him as well.

We had his Pastor and a few other folks from their church to also join in the flag line and escort. We also had 4 new members join us. Three were family members from Katherine Karkow’s WH mission we did 01-31-09 in McHenry.  Sorry to the forth member I forgot your name.

After all the hugs and handshakes we packed up the flags and hit the road for his escort to McHenry VFW. Thank you to Killdeer and Lake Zurich LEO’s, for getting us out on the Hwy at rush hour. Thank to the all the LEO’s from all the different towns who made this ride safe. We could not do these missions without their support.

We arrived at the McHenry VFW where at least 50 or so people were waiting for Keven’s arrival. It was AWESOME to say the least and by the look on Keven’s face he thought so too. Keven again thanked the guys on the bikes for the escort and handed Pops and Irish his challenge coin. It was so cool.

He was given the City Proclamation and memberships to the American Legion and VFW.  I then presented Keven with the WWR Challenge coin, a book that contained all those who welcomed him home on the WWR thread. I then presented him with a set of Honor Beads and had him sign our Welcome Home Banner that we have for all those we welcome home. Many pictures were also taken.

Keven then surprised us as he handed out a few of his own challenge coins. I would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to ROXANNE and the McHenry VFW for the wonderful support they give the WWR and all our heroes.