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Excerpt from our Vision Statement:

...THE WARRIORS' WATCH RIDERS ENVISION A DAY WHEN EVERY MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES, AT HOME AND ABROAD, AND THEIR FAMILIES, FEEL APPRECIATED, HONORED, RESPECTED AND LOVED BY THE CITIZENS THEY RISK THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT...

From the Gazeebo...  

The Cries of our Ancestors ...

"People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors." - Edmund Burke

Those warriors who died in America's wars, from 1775 until yesterday, are crying out from their graves to be remembered for what they sacrificed.

When John Adams wrote ""Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your freedom," he was talking directly to you and me. He was not merely engaging in some literary intellectual exercise, he was begging us to understand the high and horrible cost of our freedom. He was beseeching us to remember the sacrifices made by his generation so that future generations could live free. Adams knew that people who forget the cost of freedom no longer value that freedom - that they begin to take it for granted without understanding how fragile it really is.

Those of us who grew up in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s have known prosperity and security unheard of in all of the history of humankind. That security came at a terrible price, in the War for Independence which gave birth to our age of liberty, through the wars in the Gulf that are fought to further secure our freedom, by creating more free societies around the world. Free nations do not make war on other nations.

Recently there have been several Warriors' Watch Riders missions here in SouthEast PA and elsewhere, standing in flag lines of honor for the lives of men who fought in WWII. We are saying goodbye to the heroes of the 1940s, and they are going fast.

I belive that it is not merely a nice thing to show our honor and respect for those veterans. I believe that it is our duty. We were all born too late to show our respects to the veterans of the Revolutionary War. We cannot go back and give our thanks to Lincoln for preserving the Union. It is even too late to show the heros who suffered the horrors of trench warfare in WWI, the "war to end all wars." As of this writing there is only one such veteran still living. ( Frank Woodruff Buckles, born February 1, 1901, now age 109)

Buckles in 1917 (age 16)

If we have been remiss in thanking our veterans in the past, then we must make up for lost time. Soon the WWII vets will all be gone. Even the Korean War veterans and Vietnam Veterans are aging, faster than we could ever have believed when we were young and thought we would live forever.

We dare not allow the veterans of WWII and Korea pass without knowing that we, their descendants, know what they suffered and that we are grateful.

"A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers." John F. Kennedy said that, and I believe that to be an accurate measure of the moral character of a nation.

This moral requirement of a nation to remember those who sacrificed for it that fed much of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, perhaps the most famous speech ever given:

Lincoln spoke of how we, mere mortal men, can not consecrate the ground on which those men died in that epic battle through our little ceremonies, because our pitiful acts of honor were nothing compared to what those soldiers had done there. The ground was already "consecrated," by the blood of patriots. There was nothing we could do to add to that ultimate act of patriotism, or to take away from it.

But Lincoln told us that there IS something we COULD do, something that we MUST do - and that is to remember what our freedom has cost us, to honor the sacrifice done there on that day:

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

In 1776 a boy from Connecticut named Joseph Plum Martin joined the continental army. He was 15, and he would remain in the army until the end, fighting his last campaign in 1783.

Martin wrote and published his memoirs at the age of 70. His story, called "some of the adventures, dangers, and sufferings of Joseph Plumb Martin," is important because it shows us the view of the revolution from the bottom up.

Much like the Vietnam Veterans, the soldiers in the war of independence were largely looked down upon by the citizens of the new nation. Some nasty things were said about the soldiers, and of those who degraded them, Plum writes, "The only wish I would bestow upon such hard-hearted wretches, is, that they might be compelled to go through just such sufferings and privations as that army did." Walk in my shoes, in other words, before you condemn me.

Plum writes further, of his fellow soldiers, "Those men...who, if they had not ventured their lives in battle, and faced poverty, disease and death for their country to gain independance and liberty in the sunny beams of which they [the detractors] like reptiles are basking, they would be in as much need of help as we."

"The soldiers consider it cruel to be thus vilified, and it is cruel as the grave, to any man, when he knows his own rectitude of conduct, to have his hard services not only debased and underrated but scandalized and vilified.

He could have been speaking of the Vietnam Vets.

"But if the old Revolutionary [soldiers] are really an eyesore, a grief of mind, to any man (and I know they are), let me tell them that if they will exercise a very little patience, a few years longer will put all of them beyond the power of troubling them/ for they will soon be "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest."

If you don't like us, he was saying, if the sight of us makes you uncomfortable in your lives of relative abundance and liberty, you need only wait a little longer and the last of us will be gone. We are old, and will soon trouble your consciences no more.

Joseph Plum Martin is beyond the reach of our expressions of gratitude for our freedom and understanding of his sacrifices. So are all of the veterans of all of our wars, up until Korea. We can not express ourselves to them, so we must express ourselves to those who still live. The next time you see an old man in a WWII Veteran hat, thank him. Please don't let him pass from the earth without knowing that his nation was, and remains, grateful.

"Through much fatigue and many dangers past,
The warworn soldier's braved his way at last."

- Wayne Lutz

News letter input!

This news letter does not need to be my personal soapbox. If any of you have stories to tell about particularly interesting missions or events, by all means sent it to me and I will publish it here. This news letter goes to three thousand patriots each week, so tell your story and send poignant photos.

Missions go On!

We have not been much less busy because of the winter months. Most WWRiders ride all year long, stopped only by actual ice and snow on the roads. PLEASE continue to follow the Mission Planning forums for Confirmed missions. There are four forums for Confirmed Missions, one for each WWR Region.

Region 1 (Atlantic States)

Region 2 (Central States)

Region 3 (Mountain States)

Region 4 (Pacific States)

Also, read the stories through the after action reports and photos on the main website, which is continually updated, and get your "offical" WWR patches, pins, windshield banners, support vehicle signs, honor coins, hats, and all the rest at Free American Biker.

Remember, this is all about honoring our troops, one at a time or one unit at a time. Without that purpose, all the rest is just noise.

Until next time: MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS THIS, STILL THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH, AND ALL OF THOSE WHO DO, HAVE, OR WILL DEFEND HER, AT HOME AND ABROAD.

- Wayne Lutz

*This newsletter is named "The Weekly Ride" or "The Ride", for short, in memory of and to honor Sgt. Jennifer Hartman, U.S. Army. Sgt. Hartman was killed in Iraq by America's enemies. She died in defense of our freedom at the age of 20. This quote from Jennifer was read at her graveside:

"It's not about what happened in the past. It's not about what might happen in the future. It's about the ride, for Christ's sake."

Click here for a Tribute to Sgt. Jennifer Hartman: "The Ride"