Jim (Jim & Donna) is a
Marine.
I read that someplace.
I was very glad to see Big
Jim among us, adjusting his beret. He
and Roni participate
downstate, mostly. All Ride Captains
take the mission of the PGR very seriously.
Even if
they don’t take themselves too seriously.
Jim
traveled with his wife and Mr. Oswald C. Longcolt.
Roni is now the Treasurer for the Illinois PGR. That’s Fred, smiling behind her. Lean and mean, except not so mean. His wife was among us today, too.
Jef & Eve.
I so tardy in making this posting
that I can report I saw them both five days later at the Matthew Mendicott flagpole dedication.
I’m not acquainted with
most of the PGRiders but I think there were three
other couples among us. My wife is also
very supportive, though she has been on only a few missions. This website would not exist without her love
and encouragement. I am blessed in my
marriage.
And I am again blessed to
share profound experiences with the members of the PGR for 90 warriors.
90 times I have had the
dual honor of standing for a hero and standing with heroes. They wouldn’t want me to say that, but it my
website and its true. Nearly all of them
are very humble. The rest are humble.
They don’t do it for money
and they don’t do it for glory. I
believe each does it because he wants the flagline to
be one flag longer than it would be if he stayed home.
A few of us escorted our
fallen hero from the funeral home to the church, but most of us were waiting at
the church door, flags in hand. The
family would arrive with the hearse and escort, but his many friends were
waiting with us. And, most happily, we
were joined by the school children of the parish, all in their Catholic school
uniforms.
It was quite a sight. There were dozens of us, but that is only
enough for the immediate vicinity of the church door. Add three hundred students and you can line
both sides of the block all the way to the corner. Across the street from the school but still
under the ever-vigilant gaze of a school official, these two students held a
sign for all the world to see that read, “May God keep
your soul.”
Then it happened. First, the escort bikes rumbled down the
block. Then the
hearse, followed by the limo and a few other cars. I know what impact we must have had,
supported by all the students. I didn’t
want to compromise my demeanor, so I didn’t look around for confirmation – I
just kept focused on a branch of a tree across the street.
The army removed Kevin
from the hearse, pivoted, and carried him up the steps into the church. The many guests followed. I handed-off my flag and followed the last of
the guests and then turned and took a photo from the church steps back toward
the place where two TV cameras were positioned.
The family did not wish
for media to intrude but both NBC and ABC were there. We had arranged to screen the steps with a
big flag and with our many 3-by-5s. If
you look carefully in the center, you can still see one leg of one tripod. We will do better next time.
And then comes the pensive
time. Most of us do not go inside for
the service. We each have our reasons. So we would wait for the hour that a funeral
mass will take.
At the beginning of that
hour when we turn in our flags, the mood is always subdued. The cheerful greetings are over. The family, the other guests and the army are
all inside the church. The 300 students
have gone back into their school. We
retreat into ourselves.
We waited through the
service. Kevin would not be buried
locally. We were to take him back to the
funeral home so that he could then be moved to
So we rode through the
rain.
A few blocks south down
Winfield Road it was 55 degrees at Cantigny – a place past where two other
recent PGR missions have paraded and a place that celebrates the work of an
army division. Sadly, such work extracts
its price.
May God keep your soul,
Kevin Grieco.
Kevin Grieco photo albums: One
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HARD DAYS
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