Ride Report posted for Uffda

The WWR was invited to help escort and maintain a flag line for the Cadets of Great Lakes Naval Base for Thanksgiving dinner at the VFW in McHenry. Originally there were to have been a couple bus loads of Cadets. Due an over night fire to one of the other places holding Thanksgiving dinner for some of the troops the original 2 bus loads to the VFW turned into 5 bus loads, 2 vans and some of the WWR cagers were asked to transplant the now displaced troops. No problem!

Everything went into Stealth mode at that point. The VFW acquired more tables, chairs, and all that was needed for the additional troops. The main problem was getting the troops transported to the VFW. With one quick phone call to Mayor Sue Low, tables, chairs and buses were on the way! Thank you Mayor Sue! Now here is an even nicer part. Every person the mayor called that helped bring more tables and chairs and drove the additional buses did this on their own time. God Bless Mayor Sue Low and all those that volunteered their services to being 300 cadets from Great Lakes to have a wonderful Thanksgiving day dinner and fun. God Bless You All!

This was a 2 part mission RC’d by Oopsie (Flag line at VFW) and Irish (Escort from Great Lakes).

Irish RC’d the Escort part from Great Lakes to the VFW. Part of the escort, by the cagers, also provided the transporting of some of our  Cadets that would have been left behind because of not enough seating on the buses. It was a chilly and windy day, but Irish on his bike lead the way bringing our heroes to their flag line and dinner. (A special thank you to Irish. He was supposed to be at his daughter’s for dinner some 50 miles away from McHenry. This would be the last Thanksgiving dinner for a long time because she is moving to another state. But, Irish once again made the necessary arrangements  and took the escort part and then left for his daughter’s.)

Oopsie organized the flag line and what a wonderful sight it was seeing all those buses, vans and vehicles come through a long flag line from the entrance of the VFW to the doorway. Our Cadets were met by at least 50 Cheering volunteers and WWR members. You could see through the windows of the buses that the Cadets never imagined this part of their day.

As the Cadets departed the buses, vans and vehicles they were greeted with cheers, handshakes and thank yous. One could tell they were embarrassed and humbled, and of course wondering why we would do this for them. As they will tell you “They’re only doing their job.”  They soon found out how much we all appreciate their service and sacrifices they are making for each and everyone of us and our country. They soon knew, with all the Thank Yous and handshakes they got, we were there because they are our heroes. We were going to let them know what heroes they are and make them feel like Rock Stars! I believe we accomplished our mission by all the smiles and the look of happiness in their eyes.
We’d like to thank all those involved in

 making this Thanksgiving Day a wonderful surprise for our Cadets. To all those volunteers that cooked a fabulous meal, decorated the VFW, had games and

Santa that took all their wishes and pictures with and everyone of the unsung heroes that carved the turkeys, cleaned up afterwards and did so much to make our men and women have a great time, and then go home and make their own Thanksgiving dinners.

The pictures above were sent to us along with the letter below. I know we speak for all when we say “It was our honor to have been asked to participate and can’t wait for the next one.”