Patriot Guard Riders

We have been invited to stand for William Lewis Heup, age 83. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on April 5, 1943. He took the SS William Michael to Bombay, India where he served in the China Burma India Theater (CBI). From there he served in the 3509th QM Trk Co. at the Calcutta Base HQ. He returned by air through Europe. His date of departure was June 3, 1946. On June 9, 1946 he accepted an appointment as First Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corp.

After the war, William met his wife-to-be, Georgiana Alice Thompson, in Eugene, OR at a USO dance. Before the war, Georgiana lived in the paradise of Manila in the Philippines where her father, an optometrist, had moved to join his business partner. Ten hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines and American citizens were either killed or placed in the Santo Tomas Internment camp. Georgiana was 14 when she and her family became POWs. They lived there for about three and a half years. In the spring of 1945 General Douglas MacArthur led the U.S. military forces that liberated the Philippines. All surviving American POWs boarded a battle ship headed for the United States. Many of the soldiers gave up their clothes for the prisoners, who were dressed in rags. Those prisoners included Georgiana and her family. Georgiana passed away October 2, 2017 at the age of 90. William and Georgiana will now be together forever at Willamette National Cemetery.

Please join us as we pay our respects and honor his service to our nation.

Mission Date: Monday, 6 November 2017

Staging Time: 9:00 am
Briefing: 9:20 am
Flag Line Set: 9:30 am
Service Begins: 10:00 am

Meet up top at the rostrum by the flagpole. Please enter the cemetery through Gate 2 – across from Lincoln Memorial.
Staging Time: 2:00 pm
Briefing: 2:20 pm
KSU: 2:30 pm
Flag Line Set: 2:45 pm
Service Begins: 3:00 pm
There will be a RHG to the shelter