Note from DarkHorse:
The morning of 29 August 2006
started early in the Wichita area. Patriot Guard met at the staging area at
0330 for briefing, and departed at 0400 for Hiawatha, KS. Along the way we
picked up more riders at scheduled stops. We arrived at the Hiawatha Wal-Mart
at 0840 and met with DC "Big Dog" Hannah, Ride Captain for the mission. Our
small group was part of a group of 150 or more motorcycle riders that came
from Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas. Big Dog gave a briefing, and Preacher
led us in prayer. We departed 0930 sharp for the church. We stood guard at
the church, met the family, and presented our memorial flags and
plaques. When the service was over, all the riders provided a
motorcycle escort to the cemetery. The entire town lined the sides of the
road for three miles, including all students. It was a touching sight, and
one that we will always remember. The people of Hiawatha showed their love
and support for Jeremiah and his family. The graveside service included full
military honors. SPC Cole's grave was under a giant Northern Red Oak tree
that provided shade for many. On the east and west side were cornfields. It
was a beautiful setting for his final resting place. The whole town was there
to support the family at the graveside service. This was a humbling
experience to witness this show of love and support for Jeremiah.
Just a
note to bring everyone up to speed on the Hiawatha (CPL Cole) mission for
yesterday, 29 Aug 06. We had a total of 18 bikes on the ride up (after our
Holton link-up) and two more bikes met us at the event which gave us a total
of 20 bikes and about 23 people. That was an outstanding turnout for a
weekday with so many people having to work. For those of you who were able
to make it, thank you for your support. For those of you who couldn't make
it because of other commitments, I'm sure we were in your thoughts and
prayers. Thank you for your past support. I know we will see you at a
future event when it is better fits your schedule.
Below is a
copy of a Sit Rep I sent to a friend at Ft Drum who recently retired from
the 10th Mountain. Above is a copy of the Ride Report Darkhorse sent. By
reading both reports you should be able to get a good idea of our day.
Chuck
Sit
Rep--Hiawatha Mission 29 Aug 06
Thought I would drop you a note to pass on
a Sit Rep for today on the Hiawatha CPL Cole mission. Everything went very
good. We had 151 bikes (at last count I heard) and they were there from
several states other than Kansas, I heard MN, NE, MO,
and IL, mentioned and I am sure I
probably missed some. CPL Cole was definitely put away in stile. We
didn't need to provide a "blocking mission" because the sheriff had the UG's
positioned about two blocks away from
the church and they had not arrived when we passed their "awarded"
location. A few bikes did have to pass by them that arrived about 1030hrs
but that didn't seem to be a problem because of the professional way the LEO
handled everything.
After the church service we provided escort
to the cemetery, bikes with large flags in front of the Hearse
(about half of us with the large flags were placed in front of the Hearse
and the others were following),
then bikes with small flags, and then bikes with no flags. It was a pretty
good distance (I estimate about 3 miles) to the cemetery. The town of
Hiawatha was out in force and everyone held flags. There was young kids
and adults of all ages out showing their respect. It was awesome, they also
had small flags posted on the ground about every 20' for several blocks on
both sides of the road. The military color guard also gave a superb
performance and there was a BG there to present the colors to the NOK.
The weather couldn't have been better. It
was about 60* this morning at 0530hrs when I left for the Staging area
at Sapp Bro's Truck Stop in Junction City. The high for today finally got
up to about 80* on the way home after the sun came out. It was cloudy for
most of the morning but with no rain all day.
I would have to say that Big Dog did a very
good job on putting this one together. Darkhorse and some
of the Mulvane ALR were there. Big Dog had Darkhorse make the presentation
to the family. It had to be a long day for them, they SP'd from there at
0330hrs this morning. I'm sure they had a long day by the time they arrived
home. It was about 1400hrs when they headed out in that direction.