Ride Report posted for Pebjr

On 4/3/10, the “BOSS” & I flew to O’ahu for a weeks vacation to visit our son. The week was full of activities and riding our rental Harley everywhere we went.

On Thursday we rode from Shark’s Cove on the North Shore and headed to Ka’ena Point at the western most tip of the island. We parked at the end of the paved road and hiked 2 1/2 miles to the point. We saw 2 monk seals,a young albatros and got to look down the west side of the island. Upon our return hike we came across a group of soldiers from A Company 3 Brigade Support Troop Batallion 3BCT 25th Infantry headed back to the paved road.

When we reached the parking lot there had to be close to 50 American HEROS waiting for the buses to take them back to their base, Schofield Barracks. I walked up to one of the Sgt’s and asked to speak to his boss, he directed me to Capt J.J.Willis. I introduced ourselves to him and explained who we were,where we were from and a brief history of the WWR. I asked Capt Willis who was the oldest and youngest soldier present and asked if we could present these men with our coin. Those two men were summoned and one of them was the Sgt I spoke to earlier. So here we were on a beautiful day in paradise surrounded by all these HEROS and the “BOSS” presented these men with a coin. The oldest HERO is First SGT Manual Aragon,age 39 with 19 years of service and the youngest is Specialist Eric Duty,age 20 with 3 years of service.

Capt Willis told us he and his men returned from Iraq in Dec 09 and will be headed back for another tour in the near future.

We thanked all of the men for their service and the sacrifices they have made to protect us at home.

Capt Willis asked where we were headed next, we told him to Waipahu High school to see our son. He told me about a great Thai restaurant asked if I knew how to get there and thanked us for what we did. I made sure to tell him we can only do what we do because of HEROS like him and his men,wished him a safe return from their next tour and may God bless him and all our service men& women.

As we rode away past Dillingham Airfield towards town I found my self feeling the same emotions and thoughts I experience after a mission back in Southern New Jersey and said a few Hail Mary’s for the brave men of A Co 3BSTB Sapper unit 25th Infantry division.