Monthly Archive for June, 2011

On Monday the 13th of June, I had the opportunity to honor a fallen Marine. The crazy church in Kansas who is not a church at all, was coming to Nashville to protest Marine Sgt. Kevin Balduf’s funeral. I never had the honor to serve in our county’s military, but I have family members who did, and this just did’t sit well with me at all. I took most of the day off from work, and decided to attend the funeral with the Patriot Guard Riders who is a group that attends military funerals at the invitation of the family in order to honor the fallen soldiers and act as a wall between protestors etc.

I arrived at the church about 9, and there were already a good number of bikers there. We had a quick briefing, and then were given American flags and went to take our places along the driveways of the church and the street in front of the church.

Along with about 2500 other people, I stood outside the church in honor of this Marine. The family of the fallen soldier made rounds and shook the hands of everyone who was there to honor their loved one which was very touching to say the least. The members of the Marine Corp who were there to participate in the ceremony also made rounds shaking the hands of those who showed up to honor their fallen comrade.

I am glad that I took part in this. There is a part of me that wishes I would have attended with my cameras to better document the event, but I was able to get a couple of pictures with my iphone and G12 that illustrated the day, and that still let me be there for the right reasons.