Ride Report posted for Tim

On short notice, Warriors’ Watch Rider’s and a Hero’s Welcome came together and welcomed home Marine Lcpl. William Hill who is just back from a 6 month deployment to Camp Dwyer, Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.

It was an overcast Halloween morning. SEPA WWR’s supported by several of our SNJ brothers, rallied with member’s of A Hero’s Welcome and Philly PD at a small strip mall in Northeast Philly. We were joined by William’s father Howard and his wife Shannon and their two children.

William was driving  home for 96 hours leave from Camp Leguine N.C. He couldn’t understand why his dad wanted him to meet him at the strip mall. The look of surprise on his face was priceless when he pulled up to our flag line and we directed him in to a parking spot! He looked like he was in shock, blushing as we lined up to mug and hug him.

Charlie presented William with a certificate from A Hero’s Welcome and I presented him with our coin. It was bonus day for William and his family. They were presented with a bag of Philly cheese steak’s from the owner of the Steak n Eggs store where we rallied!

We lined up to depart the rally point with Philly PD leading 8 bikes with large flags, William in his car followed by 10 more bikes and several cages and another PD. It was a relatively small strip mall so lining up was a little challenging but we figured it out….or so we thought! We followed the Police escort through the neighborhoods honking our horns and PD sirens blaring. The cars stopped by the side of the road and watched as we escorted our hero to his home in the Burholme section of Philadelphia. 

The ride became a little more exciting  as we were led past a turn we should have made to get to William’s house. We played follow the leader as our PD escort took us through a 5 point intersection and then the wrong way down a one way street! Led by the PD, oncoming cars pulled to the side as we went through 3 intersections, each with bright red “Wrong Way” signs  plain as day! As we pulled up in front of the house, the PD officer got out of his car with a sheepish grin.

 We were gathering to say our goodbye’s and get a group shot. Something was missing… We lost the Marine’s wife! Somehow we lost her between our rally point and their home, and I mean really lost her because it took her about 10 minutes  to arrive! Always looking to the bright side of things, we turned into a Welcome Home for Shannon and gave her a round of applause! 

After we gathered together for our group shot, Cav presented Shannon with the Military Spouse’s Honor Certificate and pinned her, thanking her for keeping things together on the home front. The day was wrapped up with a nice prayer from the families Pastor. Job well done by all on a short notice mission.