Patriot Guard Riders

The family of MSgt Melvin Rector has requested Patriot Guard Rider participation in his military honors funeral.

MSgt Rector was a USAAC, WWII Veteran and after the war, continued his career in the United States Air Force, retiring as a Master Sergeant.

When/Where:
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Johnstown, NY 12095

LRC:
Big Dan Nolin
dan1nolin@yahoo.com

Staging at the church NLT 10:30 am for 11:00 am service. After service, members will stand for the dignified transfer followed by escort to the cemetery.

Mission Narrative:

Excerpts from the Washington Post, May 26, 2016; – U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Melvin Rector long carried Britain in his heart after he helped defend it during World War II, but 70 years passed without him stepping foot in the country.

The 94-year-old finally decided to leave his home in Barefoot Bay, Fla., to visit Britain earlier this month. The National World War II Museum in New Orleans conducts a travel program through which interested parties can visit certain sites of the war. He signed up for one, in hopes of visiting the Royal Air Force station Snetterton Heath, in Norfolk.

He served there with the 96th Bomb Group in 1945 as a radio operator and gunner on B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, flying eight combat missions over Germany during the spring of the war’s final year. On four of these missions, his plane came under heavy fire. One almost proved catastrophic, and the plane returned to base with holes dotting its wings.

At one point during his military career, he served as a gunner for the Memphis Belle, the first heavy bomber to complete its tour by flying 25 missions with its crew intact. It went on to have a post-war career in raising morale and money for the U.S. Army. Writes historian John Buescher of the warplane:

On May 6, Rector stepped foot on British soil for the first time in 71 years. The group first visited RAF Uxbridge in the London borough of Hillingdon.

Rector toured Battle of Britain Bunker, an underground command center where fighter airplane operations were directed during D-Day. After climbing back into the sunlight, he told Jowers he felt dizzy. She grabbed one of his arms, and a stranger grabbed the other.

There, just outside the bunker where Winston Churchill famously said, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,” Rector died quietly.

The Washington Post article can be read in its entirety by clicking HERE.

The Patriot Guard Riders are honored to be able to stand and display dignity, honor and respect for the life and service of MSgt Melvin Rector.

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