Keep America’s Heroes Rolling
Saturday, November 8 at 9:30 am
at
Edwin Warner Park, Nashville
Support our nation’s injured soldiers as they bring the “Soldier Ride” to Little Rock, Memphis and Nashville. In Nashville they will be biking a 25 mile Franklin Police-escorted route starting at the Vaughn Road entrance to Edwin Warner Park. They will head south through scenic Williamson County along the Old Natchez Trace and Del Rio Pike and then into Franklin’s Jim Warren Park and back.
The “Soldier Ride” raises awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project and its many programs and services it offers to our injured service members.
THIS YEAR’S RIDE IS BEING HELD IN MEMORY OF
MASTER SERGEANT JAMES ‘TRE’ PONDER
Killed in action on June 28, 2005 in Afghanistan – answering the call from 4 Navy Seals surrounded by the enemy for help. Tre was a 1987 Battle Ground Academy graduate and married to a Franklin native Leslie Miller. She and their 2 daughters, Samantha and Elizabeth survive him and will attend the ride. (Visit Ponder’s In Remembrance page.)
The All Academy & ROTC Parent’s Club invites the community to show their support of these brave young men and women.
What can I do? Ride with these brave men & women!
* Cheer on the riders at Edwin Warner Park at the start of the ride at 10 am.
* Cheer them when they finish roughly after noon.
* Gather your neighbors at locations along the way.
* Sponsorship of tailgate lunch for the official “Soldier Ride” participants.
* Help decorate neighborhood entrances and fence rows with American flags in your neighborhood or close by.
* Sponsorship of a flag decorated fence row along the Old Natchez Trace or Del Rio Pike.
* Sponsorship of the halfway water break at Jim Warren Park.
* Donations can be mailed to the All Academy & ROTC Parents Club, PO Box 50765, Nashville, TN 37205
For specific information on the Wounded Warrior Project, please visit their web site www.woundedwarriorproject.org
Questions? Contact parent volunteer Becky Ross at rc.ross@comcast.net or 615-377-7774.
Run for the Fallen announces event for 2009.
During the weekend of August 22/23, 2009, Run for the Fallen encourages anyone, wherever they are, to go out and run/walk one mile for a fallen service member killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Similar to our Final Day event in 2008, we will run together on this weekend in honor and remembrance. We will again post state-by-state runs, and if provided, contact information so that you can get involved on a local level. Want to find a 2009 run in your area? Learn more here. Learn more about the event of 2008.
Want to organize your own run? Have information about an existing 2009 run?
Please email contact [at] runforthefallen [dot] org.
While our team will not run across America in the summer of 2009, we will run on the weekend of August 22/23, 2009 in remembering our fallen service members.
It was one of the hottest days this summer in TN when Joe & Laura Landaker flew in from Big Bear Lake, CA to run not only Jare’s mile but for the six crew members on the CH-46. The Landaker’s have founded The Seven Stars Foundation to honor all these young service members. Family, friends and ‘new’ friends cheered as they jogged up a killer hill. One woman driving by stopped just to shake Laura’s hand, give her a hug. It was great seeing them after our first meeting out in Big Bear when we were invited into their home for a great dinner. 
There is a newly erected chapel on Combat Outpost Cleary, dedicated in 1st Lt. Michael J. Cleary’s honor. A note from Father Eric Albertson about the new chapel was posted on Mike’s In Remembrance page just a few days ago.
My name is Father Eric Albertson, and I am the Catholic Priest Chaplain assigned to Multi-National Division, Center, Baghdad, at the time of this entry–July 2008. 10th Mountain now has the HQ, but 3rd Infantry had it for 15 months up to 1 June. I travel our area of operations regularly to provide religious support, and thought you might appreciate these two photos I took. One of the patrol base in our area named after your son, and the other of a chapel built on the patrol base across from his Memorial. The Chapel was built by the Georgian Soldiers, and two of their own recent losses hang in a place of honor next to your son. I was in the Anbar Province with 2nd Infantry Division and redeployed a few months before your son was killed. I am deeply sorry for your loss, and please know that I regularly remember the families of our fallen in my daily prayers. It is truly an honor to be a Chaplain for these fine Americans, but like you, I will never fully recover from harsh tragedy of loss and the heavy grief associated with the sacrifice made by so many of them. May these photos remind you that he is not forgotten. Thank you for your son, and for the contribution he made to the men who served with him and for the sacrifice he made for freedom.
Blessings and prayers, Fr. Eric Albertson, Chaplain (Major), US Army |
| |
Eric Albertson (Arlington, VA) |
Today we had the wonderful opportunity to meet the parents of 1st Lt. Jared M. Landaker.
From left to right: Jon Bellona, Ian Lawson, Shauna Sweet, Ben Thorne, Joe Landaker, and Chris Bates.
Running through Big Bear Lake, we ran on Route 38 towards Fawnskin, which was commissioned in honor of 1st Lt. Jared M. Landaker. The ten mile stretch of highway was dedicated on May 5, 2008, just two days after Jared’s 27th birthday. Joe Landaker met us on his motorcycle, rode with us to Jared’s sign, and posed with us for this picture. We accepted Joe’s invitation to the house, where he entertained us with stories about Jared and the Run for the Wall.
Jared flew CH-46 helicopters in Iraq, and his helo was credited with saving 91 lives. Jared and six others were shot down on Feb. 7, 2007. Jared’s parents, Joe and Laura, help establish Seven Stars Foundation in honor of those killed in that crash. We will run for Jared on August 5, near Noah, TN.
Both Joe and Laura are two very special people, and we are proud to run for Jared Landaker.
