This one will go down in WWR lore; it’s a story that will be told around trash-can fires and biker-bars for years to come!

Call it God, Fate, Karma, The Universe, but it could not have been coincidence that SFC Long knocked on MY church door yesterday morning. Of all the churches in all the neighborhoods and on all the streets of Philadelphia, SFC Long chose mine.

10:45:00

I (lutz) work in a large Lutheran church, you see, in Philadelphia. I was sitting in my office yesterday when my receptionist Tracey got up to go do something. When she did, she saw a uniformed Army soldier standing outside, looking a little lost. Tracey opened the door and said “Hello! Come on in! Mr. Lutz is inside!” and waved him in. He had a look of total perplexity on his face. Tracey, you see, seeing a uniformed solder just automatically assumed that he was here to see me, that he knew me.

Well, as it turns out, he DID know me, but he didn’t know that he knew me at that moment. So he came inside wondering why he’d been welcomed in that way and was ushered into my office. I looked up to see an Army SFC in uniform, I got up and offered my hand and introduced myself and asked what we could do for him.

He gave his name and said he was the commander of the Recruiting station at 1 and Olney Plaza, a shopping center about a mile away. At that a light-switch clicked in my head. I stopped him and said that we had met once before, and then he remembered too.

It was the day we rode to present a plaque to the officers of the Philadelphia Highway Patrol. We had chosen that shopping center as our rally point. While there I had gone over the the recruiters to give them my card. We were talking and one of the guys was a rider and had his bike with him. I invited him to ride with us. He looked hopefully at SFC Long, who then said “Yes, sure, you can go.” The other solder ran to get his gear and mounted up and rode with us that day.

Now this same SFC Long was standing in my office in my church.

After we got over the “small world” talk, we got down to business. He had a soldier, he said, who he had put into the army. A young lady. She was deploying to Iraq. She was to report to Fort Dix for processing TOMORRW. She needs to get married.

Oh? Married? When?

NOW. SFC Long came to my church, choosing it at random, looking for someone who could marry his soldier before she goes to Iraq.

10:55:am

I told him that our pastor was away, down in Florida visiting his daughter who had just graduated from college. SFC Long’s face fell. I said hold on, have a seat and let me think a minute. We sat him down and my secretary and I started brainstorming. Pastor Leah over at Zion Lutheran? Call her! No answer. How about Pastor Townsend up at St. Paul’s English? No, he’s not there any more.

Wait! I know! How about Pastor Bill Erat! He just gave me his card yesterday!

We called. He answered! I told him the story and of course there was a long silence while he digested what I’m telling him. We do not as a rule do “drive-by-weddings.” We normally go through a process of pre-marital counseling and wedding planning, even for small quiet weddings. But Pastor Bill has a big heart, and he heard the urgency in my voice, and he said “I’ll do it!” I look up at SFC Long and give him the thumbs-up. He brightens.

So I ask Pastor Bill, where? Can we do it right here in my chapel? When? It’s 11am now. How about 1 o’clock? Yes. SFC Long, where are the bride and groom now? At their home in Kensignton. They don’t have a car. Can you get them here by one? Yes, I’ll get them here. Ok, SFC Long, go! Pastor Bill, see you at 1!

11:00am

SFC Long takes off, and I get on the computer and go to the WWR forums. ULTRA SHORT-NOTICE MISSION! I NEED PATRIOTS WITH AMERICAN FLAGS FOR A GIRL-SOLDIER DEPLOYING TO IRAQ TOMORROW AND GETTING MARRIED IN TWO HOURS!

12:00noon

At noon I heard the first rumble of V-twins coming down 5th St. Huggy and NJ Rob had hooked up by accident and arrived together.

12:30pm

Now I had a line of motorcycles out on the street in front of the church and a bunch of bikers in my office waiting. What a turnout! God, I love you guys. THIS SOLDIER DESERVES TO KNOW THAT WE LOVE AND HONOR HER! And the recruiters need to know that we want their soldiers taken care of as much as they do!

12:40pm

SFC comes back with the blushing bride and the groom and one more uniformed Army recruiter. We put the couple in the chapel while we wait.

12:45pm

My wife, The Little Woman, is here and goes up to Kuhn’s florist and buys two colorful bouquets of flowers to put in the flower holders in front of the chapel. The bride, Georgina, absolutely loves it! She starts to GLOW when she sees those flowers! As little as a half hour ago she had no idea she would have wedding at all, let alone a church wedding with flowers and witnesses and photographers!

1:00pm

Pastor William Erat arrives. I take him into the chapel for introductions and then we leave them all alone so that Pastor Erat can talk to the couple and get to know them a little and hear their story. We all wait in the office next to the chapel as nervous as expecting fathers.

1:20pm

Finally Pastor Erat comes out and gives the high-sign. I call out “We have a wedding!” and we all go in to the chapel. Imagine, a chapel full of bikers and other assorted miscreants for an Army wedding! One of our church ladies had come back to watch the wedding and my wife came up and we all piled in. Pastor bill announced that both the bride and groom came from a Christian background and had agreed on a Christian wedding.

1:25pm

The wedding began. There were scripture readings and prayers and sending up of petitions for her safety and quick return home from Iraq to the arms of her new family. When Pastor Erat got to the actual reading of the vows, he asked us all to get up and stand around the couple, close-in. Georgina’s face was actually, literally, glowing!

1:50pm

The couple was pronounced “man and wife,” and we cheered! I went to the bride and told her that, while I understood she was not Lutheran, she had just been married in a Lutheran church by a Lutheran Pastor and so I gave her a silver Luther Rose pendant to wear as a reminder of the day. She near cried.

1:55pm

We hurried out the door to set up our flag line and the bride and groom emerged from the church through a line of American flags and applause! I went in and retrieved the flowers, gave them to the bride, and as they left I swear to you she was still, literally glowing.

2:00pm

Warriors Watch Riders departed, and went back to their lives, KNOWING WHAT WE HAD DONE. AND WHAT HAD WE DONE? WE DIDN’T JUST THROW TOGETHER A “QUICKIE” WEDDING. WE DID SOMETHING MUCH DEEPER, MUCH MORE IMPORTANT AND MUCH MORE MEANINGFUL: WE CREATED A MEMORY FOR THIS YOUNG SOLDIER. WE GAVE HER THE GIFT OF A MEMORY THAT SHE CAN NOW CARRY WITH HER TO IRAQ AND BEYOND. WE GAVE HER A WARM, PLEASANT MEMORY THAT MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, MIGHT BE THERE FOR HER TO COMFORT HER AND GIVE HER STRENGTH AND GIVE HER COMFORT AND HEART DURING THE TRIALS THAT LIE BEFORE HER, UNTIL SHE CAN COME HOME AGAIN.

That’s what we did, and I have never, not ever, been more proud to be associated with the men and women of the Warriors’ Watch Riders than I was at that moment.

Photos by Sean, more to come shortly…

more photos here

and click here for NJ Tom’s photos of this day: