Francheska Velez arrived home Monday. It appears there were 30 PGRiders to take her from Midway, past her high school and on to the place she will wait for her funeral on Thursday.

Junior reserve officer cadets salute as the procession for Fort Hood shooting victim Pfc. Francheska Velez passes by her alma mater Kelvyn Park High School in Chicago. (Tribune photo by Alex Garcia / November 16, 2009)

This was the view from the WGN helicopter:

Wednesday:

I traveled south on Cicero and then west on Belmont. Half the signs were in Polish.

When I got to the funeral home, Patriot Guard flags were being attached to the surrounding fence.

The city was making preparations too. Jeff is a patriot and a man of sound opinions. He asked me not to quote him – otherwise, I would. He made sure there were no cigarette butts in the cracks of the sidewalk or bottle caps at the edge of the gutter within a block of the funeral home.

The funeral home (with a PGR assist) installed the POW flag below their big-but-half-staffed American flag. It has been 142 days for Bowe Bergdahl, so far.

Then we found our places.

And they started to come.

On the way home I passed tomorrow’s destination.

It is a beautiful, mature cemetery with many different monuments. One large one in the center of the cemetery near their flagpole had an unfamiliar geographic shape boldly presented in brass on its granite face. I didn’t have to wonder long – it read “God, bless Latvia.” I was reminded that Francheska’s parent’s immigrated from Columbia. Her father wanted to join the army of his new country and that inspired his daughter.

If you are born here, you might be a good citizen. But if your family sacrifices their familiar culture for our country, they have demonstrated they truly want to be good citizens. And if their daughter is sacrificed for their new country because she joined our army and traveled to the war zone in Korea and then traveled to the war zone in Iraq and was struck down by the fire of an Islamist who wasn’t shooting at Poles or Latvians or Columbians, but at Americans, then you have proven you are good citizens.

Thursday:

Debbie told us that when we are finished in the cemetery, not to start the bikes until we are told. She said it creates a wrong impression to break the quiet sadness with individual departures.

Then Steve said he asked a biker during the Pearson mission about standing with a flag and was told, “I’m just here for the ride.”

Following Debbie’s lead, Steve said, “If you’re just here for the ride, we don’t want you.”

Northern Illinois has always had good leadership.

Ride Captains who fuss over us must think that we need to be fussed over. So they must believe we come to be stroked. And they must have concluded that they are just the ones to give us that good, warm feeling of appreciation.

In Northern Illinois they tell us what to hold, where to stand and when to shut-up.

After the service we traveled the mile to the cemetery. I left early to take a position to get this photo.

Jim Scifo lives halfway between the funeral home and the cemetery. (Just geographically, I mean.) He was raking leaves. 22 years an airman, his son carries on there now. His wife works for the army in Arlington Heights.

General West was the institutional representative for the army again. More than other generals I have observed in that capacity, his head swivels like a fighter pilot – he sees everything. He wants to fix everything he can fix and he wants to be aware of everything else.

The mother did not want to leave the limo. Still cameras and video cameras were all over the cemetery (with the family’s permission) but she didn’t want to be seen. So we surrounded the limousine with a curtain of color. We were glad to have a job to do.

The gravesite was slightly elevated from the road and a strip of outdoor carpeting had been laid so the pallbearers would not slip. The PGRiders were huddled around the limo and the mourners were clustered at the grave.

Then General West emerged from the grave cluster and walked down the Astroturf runner. A folded American flag was sandwiched between his forearms and his eyes were uncharacteristically directed only forward and down. The curtain of flags and the door of the limo opened for him.

It was there that Francheska’s mother was presented with that flag “on behalf of a grateful nation and the United States Army as a token of appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service.”

We waited until we were told, and then we all started our engines and moved out of the cemetery as a group.

back to ALL MISSIONS