Planning meetings are so important! Many were held on Monday and Tuesday. Below is a partial stack of Central Route's equipment. The paddles are for staging the platoons. Southern Route will try them next year if they work well on Central Route this year.
Registration numbers have been reported at 470 for Central Route and 262 for Southern Route. Below are registration I.C.O.'s checking for motorcycle license endorsements and insurance. All registering riders must sign a liability release.
Merchandise sales were brisk. Ron "Hammer" Young, CR Route Coordinator, changed his oil in the parking lot. Below, the schedule of events for the three days was in the lobby, as was a map to show where riders were from.
A RIDE OF HONOR TO TAKE WORLD WAR II SOLDIER HOME (see photo above...This article was written by Judy Lacey and is taken from "Veteran's News" on www.rftw.org)
Eddie Livingstone’s Ashes Will Travel Home Via Run For The Wall
A decorated World War II soldier who lived in poverty after the war will take one last trip with his comrades next month.
American Legion Riders with Placerville's Post 119, with help from various state’s Patriot Guard Riders, will ride with Eddie Livingston's ashes with Run For The Wall (Southern Route) to Washington, D.C., and then to Dothan, Alabama, where Livingston's wife Helen is buried.
Eddie shed his blood on all five battlefields; he had 7 purple hearts, 3 bronze star medals (1 with V for Valor), 2 Presidential Unit Citations, and was awarded but never actually received the Distinguished Service Cross for Normandy. Dan Jordan, president of the Placerville chapter, contacted Livingston's niece, Pam Baker of Livermore, about the trip after finding a website Baker created to tell her uncle's story. “I always wanted Eddie taken over by his comrades,” said Baker, who took care of her uncle the last 18 months of his life. “This is what Eddie would have done for them. There are so many people that do the Run For The Wall,” Jordan said. “You're going to have all those veterans together ... sharing stories. (Livingston's) story will be another one to be told along the way.”
Livingston grew up in Alabama and lied about his age to join the Army when he was 15, according to Baker. He served with the 82nd Airborne, 504th Infantry, 3rd Battalion, 'I' Company and jumped in Africa, then fought in five European campaigns: Sicily, Salerno, Cassino, Anzio and Normandy—where he was captured as a POW, she said. While a POW he served time in Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald, where he was made to work on cleanup crews. They had to watch Jews tortured and killed and told Baker that he had to clean the blood off the walls and floor. In April of 1945, after numerous injuries, Livingston was liberated and returned home, where he was deemed unfit for future service and discharged, Baker said. Then another fight began—with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
People think World War II veterans were taken care of after the war, Baker said, “but that's not true for all.” It took nearly two decades for Livingston—who received multiple injuries in the war and suffered from post traumatic stress disorder—to get the benefits he earned. By then he completely distrusted his government and people.
Baker and her brother found their uncle and his wife living in an 'uninhabitable' home in Alabama in 2000. The house had no electricity or running water; Livingston and his wife Helen had been living that way for over 30 years. He was paranoid and did not trust people. Eddie was placed into the mental ward of the local hospital. After a brief stay in the hospital and another fight with the government about medical tests, Livingston came out to California to live with his niece. “He caught the bus with just the clothes on his back,” Baker said, adding that Helen died three weeks after her husband left.
Eddie Livingston died on March 22, 2002, at possibly age 80. Livingston has two birthdays so, Baker said, she wasn't sure exactly how old he was. Keeping with his simple life mentality, Livingston had requested cremation and placement “where the grass is green.” “The grass is green where his wife is,” Baker said, explaining her decision to take Livingston back to Alabama. “She stood by him. And now the veterans are standing by Livingston with the pledge to take him home and share his story.”
They leave with Run For The Wall on May 14. Baker said she hopes others learn from her uncle and understand that the government's problems with veterans extend beyond the current war and Vietnam. Perhaps too little, too late to change Livingston's mind about his government but still a gesture of atonement, the commissioner of the VA has promised full military honors at Livingston's service in Alabama.
What a treat to be introduced to Mark Borsuk and hear his "Run For The Wall" and "We Are America" songs! Mark received standing ovations, as did a POW from Vietnam. It was a special honor to have John Baca, Medal of Honor recipient, speak to us. Thanks to everyone in California for making our stay here so nice, especially Jim Frost, California State Coordinator.
7/13 - Judy Lacey submitted the photo of riders waving flags during Mark's songs.
At 3 p.m. on May 24, the Black Creek Gourd Society Honor Dance will be held at the National Museum of the American Indian which is located on the National Mall between the Air & Space Museum and the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. This Veterans Honor Dance will recognize all RFTW participants and their families for their service to our nation. Above are some of the organizers of this event, left to right, Larry and Vicki Anderson and Andrew Woody.
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"These are not the official Sit Reps, but David Talley is a rider and a trucker who keeps in close contact with the truckers as we ride. He shared this with us: "Well it has been a long two days of registration. I do not have an exact count because we are still registering in the morning. I also do not have an exact count for the Southern Route, and may not be able to get that.
"Kickstands up 0800 Central route goes North on I-15 to I-40. Stops at Bartsow, Ludlow (Needles) Kingman AZ and final stop at Williams AZ. I apologize for not having the central route Information, they are heading to I-10 at approximately 0730. [470 registered for Central Route and 262 for Southern Route]...that is about 4 miles of Motorcycles going east. I hope folks can plan accordingly."
Dave Bounce Talley
Truck 1926
1 down, 10 to go.
Thanks again to all of you for your support
John McKee took the photos below:
These photos were sent by Gary Black who could not furnish us with others during the ride (as originally planned).
