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My apologies to
Gibraltar students!
I learned
last night that your
entire student body fell
out on both sides of #42
with signs a banners to
salute our Honor Riders
as they passed by. It's
hard to put into words
how much you're
patriotism means to me
and my fellow Vietnam
Vets. It's also hard to
tell you all how badly
feel knowing we'd
already past Gibraltar
before you had time to
fallout. It's 100% my
fault so I look forward
to a proper time to
offer you all an
in-person explanation.
I'm on guard duty again
at the wall in about 10
minutes so for now
please be aware of the
following reasons we
deployed early:
-
At
4:00 a.m. I
received word it was
a
downpour in La
Crosse and
they'd been told of
a major detour off
the main roads, and
organizers were
sincerely concerned
for the safety of
their riders. Two
bikes had already
gone down on their
way to La Crosse
with minor injuries
to the riders.
Recommendation was
to check our weather
and do what I could
to beat the rain or
deploy in cars.
-
At about 5:00
a.m.
I received word
from Rolling Thunder
that our 5 riders in
La Crosse we're
standing mission
ready in pouring
rain. Not ours but
they'd already had
riders down in the
rain suffering major
bike but minor
personal injuries.
I also received a
report from OB1 that
our riders already
had to use one of
their first aid
kits, they'd lost
one flasher in the
wind, and all had at
least 1/4" of water
in their riding
boots.
-
At 5:30 a.m.
I received a report
that it was
raining in Green Bay
and starting to rain
in Sturgeon Bay.
Based on fast
changing conditions
we had to either
shift to cars or
deploy before the
roads were too wet
to safely ride. I
decided to roll
early for the
gravesites, meet in
Egg Harbor with our
Honor Riders, refuel
in Ellison Bay and
roll out of
Northport the moment
the ferry landed.
Consequently we left
Northport at 7:32
eight minutes ahead
of schedule. Our
stop at Staging Area
#2 went better then
planned so we passed
Gibraltar I think
about 8:10 sounding
our sirens as we
passed. We were in
Egg Harbor by 8:30
a.m.
when we were
scheduled to pass
Gibraltar.
All-in-all I take
full responsibility
for letting you
down. But, as they
say in the army,
"Discretion is the
better part of
valor!"
-
At
9:45 a.m.
When we arrived in
Sturgeon Bay I
received word that
three bikes had gone
down in the first
wave out of La
Crosse with
one rider taken to
the hospital.
Another bike went
down suffering minor
injuries but
totaling his bike.
-
All in all,
In retrospect, I
felt much better
having everyone in
Sturgeon Bay early
with time to rest
and dry-out from
what was at the time
a sprinkling.
The ride to LZ from
Sturgeon Bay got wet
but the roads were
still dry enough not
to endanger our
riders.
In addition to
offering an in-person
personal apology,
I'd like to give panel
patches to five students
from Gibraltar. We'll
discuss them when I
hand out our VFW Post
8337 scholarships next
Wednesday night. I now
have to report for guard
duty.
Rich Woldt
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