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Patriot Guard Riders Forum
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Medic Dad 
Posts: 33
Minnesota
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| 30 Jun 2007 1:40 PM |
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| I was proud to stand for Cpl Benson today. May God comfort his family and know that we will never forget. |
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Twinkle
Posts: 54
Motley, Minnesota
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| 01 Jul 2007 4:29 PM |
Alert
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Corporal Raymond Benson, 06/30/2007
Mission Report
On June 26th, 2007 I received the following email and accepted this mission after talking with Rick Benson and the funeral director Jeannie Hogan.
Greetings,
I am inquiring about the possibility of the Patriot Guard attending the burial ceremony of my father Raymond Earl Benson on Saturday, June 30 th, 2007 at 11:00 AM at the Sacred Heart Cemetery located outside Wahkon, MN (Highway 27). I heard about your service from a family friend and would appreciate the opportunity to honor my father with such an awesome display of respect for what he has meant to me and my family and to the service of this country. Thank you!!! Rick Benson
Cpl Raymond Benson served in the Army from 1952-54. He passed away at 72 years old in March and the funeral had already been held so our services were requested for the burial service.
I told Mr. Benson that I thought for sure we could have 5 there or possibly up to 20. First staging was in Brainerd where we picked up 4 cagers, and 7 bikes, then we rode to Malmo, where we picked up 3 more bikes. When we rolled into the final staging at the Isle Cenex there were approximately 46 more bikes in the parking lot!!!
After briefing in Isle, we left at 1000 with a police escort for a 2 mile ride to Sacred Heart Cemetery near Wahkon, MN. The funeral director started crying when she saw all the bikes coming down the road and was still crying and hugging me after we arrived there. She is also part of the family. We formed the flagline on 2 sides of the area where the casket/vault was and posted 4 on one entrance and 2 on the other.
It was a short service, with a gun salute by the Isle VFW Color Guard, and Taps were played. Rick Benson publicly thanked the Patriod Guard and we got a wonderful round of applause, and Rick also went and shook everyones hand and thanked us. He hugged me a couple times which was great! The most memorable moving moment was when Rick's brother got out of his car. Him and his wife and children were the first ones there. I went to introduce myself and let them know what we were doing. He said, with almost childlike wonder, "This is all for my dad?", and he got all teary eyed and put his head on his wife's shoulder, who strarted crying too. Of course I joined right in with the tears.
After the family left the cemetery we stood down, and left to go to our post mission gathering at White Cap Inn on Mille Lacs Lake. My brother, Richard Robertson, is the owner and he put out some munchies for us. I had brought my laptop and put on the 2007 rally video for everyone to watch.
We parted ways with quite a few but a good number of us went for a ride around Mille Lacs Lake after we left White Cap Inn. We all went to the Blue Goose on Mille Lacs for lunch and afterwards, we walked across to the big concourse on the lake to take a pic with the big fish. That was a very worthwhile walk! The man that took our picture, retired pastor Bernie Drews, said he had heard about us and wanted to know how to join. He didn't have email so wasn't able to go to the website. I gave him my phone number and he called me today and both he and his wife Nancy joined!!!
All in all, it was a totally awesome mission! We had 56 bikes and 71 people on the flagline! My ARC's, Roger & Louise Danielson, did an awesome job arranging everything at the cemetery and in Isle, with the police escort and road guards!!!! A huge thank you to them!!!
God Bless America and those that serve this great nation ~ Freedom isn't Free!!
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaMm7dm2btmLi4 Mission Pictures
Starr Marshall
Brainerd Sector RC
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God bless you and those that serve and have served this great nation ~ Freedom Isn't Free
Starr Marshall
Brainerd Sector RC
MN Patriot Guard Riders |
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Twinkle
Posts: 54
Motley, Minnesota
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| 01 Jul 2007 4:33 PM |
Alert
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| I was proud to stand for Cpl Raymond Benson today and it was an honor to be asked. Slowly and sadly we are losing our greatest generation. Thank you Cpl Benson, mission accomplished. |
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God bless you and those that serve and have served this great nation ~ Freedom Isn't Free
Starr Marshall
Brainerd Sector RC
MN Patriot Guard Riders |
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