Patriot Guard Honors Veterans

Veterans Day is a time to recognize and thank members of the armed forces for keeping our country free. For one resident, this dedication to honoring veterans extends well past Nov. 11.

Bob Weatherford is a member of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts whose primary mission is to escort the remains of fallen soldiers to their final resting place at the request of the fallen's family.

Weatherford served in the Marines in the era of the Vietnam War and does not want what happened to veterans during that period to be repeated.

“We don't do it to be recognized,” Weatherford said. “We do it to protect the family from protesters.”

Members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church sometimes picket the funerals of service members killed overseas, declaring that their deaths are God's punishment for the United States' tolerance of homosexuality.

The Patriot Guard Riders take a nonconfrontational approach to these demonstrators, usually revving the engines of their motorcycles to drown out the chants of the church members or standing between them and the family of the dead service member to block them from view.

“We won't lay hands on them,” Weatherford said, “because the way they get their funding is by suing people who do.”

Weatherford has attended funerals where protests were happening, but more often than not the church says it will attend an event but its members do not show up.

The group usually has five or six missions a week, and members of the group often travel to adjoining states to help their brethren when the need arises.

Over the summer, Weatherford was involved with a four-state mission, transferring the remains of a veteran who had died in a Virginia hospital from Florida to his final resting place in Kentucky. The veteran's sister had wanted the man to move back home with her, but he died before the arrangements could be made.

Riders from Florida, Georgia, Tennesee and Kentucky participated in escorting the veteran. At the border of each state, the man's remains were transferred to the captain of the next state's Patriot Guard.

On Oct. 20, Weatherford and 400 Patriot Guard Riders escorted the funeral procession of , who was killed in action in Afghanistan.

Weatherford said the group gave every American flag it had to the throngs of people along the route from Charlie Brown Airport to .

The Patriot Guard, which has nearly 200,000 members, is not limited to escorting funeral processions. Members will escort a returning veteran's welcome-home parade and have participated in the Honor Flight Network, which transports World War II veterans to Washington to visit the National World War II Memorial. Additionally, the group will send out requests for care packages and postcards to servicemen and servicewomen deployed overseas.

“You don't have to be a motorcyclist or a veteran to join,” Weatherford said. “You just have to respect and appreciate the sacrifices made by our soldiers.”