Day 7 – May 19th – Des Moines, IA

Iowa City VA Medical Center – Iowa City, Iowa

Monday May 19th, Des Moines, IA (Day Seven)

State Coordinator: Patrick Martindale

Locations:

Begins in Des Moines, IA, rides through Marshalltown and Iowa City, and on to Davenport, IA

Weather:

From California to Iowa we stayed one day ahead of, or behind, the storms. Today the rain caught up with us. The rain was intermittent, but the wind was unforgiving at around 40 mph with gusts that could almost knock you off your feet. Fortunately, the heaviest winds hit while the riders were in the Iowa City Veterans Hospital.

Agenda:

AMVETS Post 2, Des Moines, IA

Although they gave us a wonderful dinner last night, the AMVETS awoke early to have hot coffee and a full home-cooked meal ready for us at 6:30. They also put up on their big screen a music video of a patriotic song, reminding us that the USA is strong for any challenge we face, we face together as a country. Thank you AMVETS!

Iowa Veterans Home, Marshalltown, IA

As we approached the Vets Home, the beauty of this small town atmosphere was welcoming. Then once inside the gates, and as we rode through the courtyard to park, some vets in wheel chairs came out into the wind and light rain to greet us. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say, they look forward to seeing us as much—or more—than we look forward to seeing them.
I spoke with Fern for almost a half hour. We met last year, remembered each other and our conversation picked up right where we left off last year. Parting, we each said, “See you next year.”
Sweetness shared three very interesting stories of vets he encountered. Unable to take pictures of their faces, he instead took pictures of some of their accomplishments. First was a vet awarded the Silver Star Medal, James “Hospitalman” Ross, Marine Corpman. The citation read, in part, “…caught in a vicious ambush…wounded eleven Marines. Unhesitatingly heeding a call for help, Hospitalman Ross courageously crawled about thirty meters through a relentless hail of enemy fire to aid one of the wounded men. With utter disregard for his own safety, Hospitalman remained in the fire, kneeling over the stricken Marine to administer mouth-to-mouth…and saved his life…”
The second story was of the man who created the artwork that was posted around the Home and one all our tables at lunch. See the picture of Sweetness hold one poster next to the original artwork displayed outside the resident’s room.
The third story (Sweetness was busy) took place while he was visiting a resident, Martin Harris, Air Force. When he was stationed in Maine, Martin’s friend was invited to visit a friend during leave. He asked Martin if he’d join him. As it turned out, the friend was John Kennedy in Hyannis Port, MA, and the baby on John’s knee was Kathleen Kennedy (Robert and Ethel Kennedy’s oldest). Martin was in Korea when Kennedy was shot. He said he was the best president to work for so he had to get out of the service after that deployment.
Another truly amazing—almost miraculous story—came from Zig and Angie when they just happened to stop Charity, on staff at the vets home, for directions. They got to talking and Zig discovered they had both lived in Guam. As they continued to talk she mentioned a family member by name. Zig asked her, “Would that be Madeleine Bordallo?” Charity’s surprise was obvious, “How do you know Madeleine Bordallo?” Zig replied, “I used to work for her.” The old-home-week began as they discussed all the people they knew in common. As it turns out, the Honorable Madeleine Bordallo, the Congressional Representative for Guam, married to Ricky Bordallo, then Governor for Guam, are Charity’s great aunt and uncle.
Needless to say, we all have a wonderful visit, followed by a great lunch, and yes, another Freedom Medal for Laurel (missed her last name), Air Force. Lots of pictures from this location below.

Iowa City VA Health Care System, Iowa City, IA

We rode directly from the Veterans Home to the VA Hospital. They were expecting us and had cleared a parking lot for our bikes, cars, and trucks. After a short welcome and appreciation certificates, we went over the instruction for their facility. They wanted us inside because the vets were waiting to see us, and we were looking to get inside quickly since the wind was seriously cold. So we quickly moved into the buildings and to see the vets.
Two quilts were handed out, many pins were distributed, dozens of cards made by children as thank you notes to our veterans were given to the vets. Our general message is still the same, they are appreciated for the sacrifices they made to serve our country; we have not forgotten them. But the conversations are the highlights. More often than not we find things we have in common, whether it’s what they’re watching on TV, the logo on their hat, the branch of the service they served in, what part of the country they’re from, or experiences before, during or after their service. It’s just plain fun to talk with them.
We also had the honor to award two Freedom Medals to workers, one at the hospital and one at the attached office facility. Lots of pictures below.
Our time at the VA Health Care System always goes too quickly. In fact one of the group chose to stay a few minutes longer to ensure the quilts we had for the vets were distributed. We’re looking forward to next year.

Veterans Memorial Park, Davenport, IA

This was our second year to visit this new, developing memorial park located along the beautiful shoreline of the Mississippi River. Last year was the dedication of the Memorial Park. This year, partway through phase three of their development plans, we had a most special ceremony.
It began with introductions and updates on the progress of the Memorial Park development, point out what’s happened since the dedication and what will be completed by the end of this year. I’m looking forward to adding a brick to the honorary brick walk.
This was followed by the reading of the 211 names on the Vietnam Wall, representing those fallen from the surrounding communities. Jerry Connor concluded the reading with a thought to ponder; all the names read, although our contemporaries at the time, never aged to share all the experiences we’ve have—family times, milestones, accomplishments. All the names read were young men and women, likely a majority in their twenties. Jerry called us to remember all of what they sacrificed for our freedoms.
This was followed by the military honoring salute, 21-gun salute, and taps. A moving, somber time. I am so grateful for this community organization that is raising funds and advancing plans to ensure this park will be here to honor veterans for many years to come.
We were fortunate they scheduled this ceremony on the very day we’d be passing through town. It was truly an honor to have taken part with the local community. We look forward to seeing it again next year with all the new developments.

American Legion Post 26, Davenport, IA

A welcoming team of every member and lots of youth, even the kitchen workers came out to welcome each person as we walked in. It was as if they knew we’d be cold and tired after a hard day fighting the winds. The dinner was prepared and ready, hot for our cold fingers. JackWagon shared our appreciation for how attentive they were to our every need, but they continued to reply that they loved our coming to visit them and how much they enjoyed serving us dinner on our journey to DC.
There are a lot of extremely friendly and down-to-earth people in the state of Iowa, and we were fortunate and extremely grateful to have met the very best of them.

OTHER NOTES:

We had one very unexpected bike failure, a broken handlebar. The good news is, it broke in a parking lot and not while being ridden. No one went down and no one was hurt.
HeadDog announced at dinner, if anyone has maintenance needs—scheduled or unexpected—to let him know and he will alert the Harley and Honda dealerships where we stage our bikes before riding to the Danny Bruce Memorial tomorrow.

Thank a veteran today,

Thank You – Libby Worden – Sitrep Admin