WARSAW — A gathering of approximately 50 individuals, many veterans, attended the annual American Legion Post 49 Veterans Day Program at Center Lake Pavilion this morning, Nov. 11.
Russ Bauer, senior ride captain with Indiana Patriot Guard, was guest speaker at the Veterans Day program in Warsaw. (Photos by Deb Patterson)
Russ Bauer, Silver Lake, senior ride captain for Indiana Patriot Guard Riders, was guest speaker for the morning, providing information about the organization and what it does.
“What is a veteran? …,” says Bauer. “My personal idea … a veteran is someone who at one time wrote a blank check to the people of America for an amount up to and including his life …” He has spent many veterans day riding his motorcycle to schools talking to elementary schools in Northern Indiana explain to young people what a veteran is. “It is always a lot of fun until the end when you meet them for lunch and the first question they ask ‘have you killed any body’ that’s a tough one obviously to answer by any body that has been in our shores. You always dodge that question a lot.”
“I’m dressed a little differently than most of the veterans in this room. I’m a biker, I’ve been a biker since birth … The correlation between bikers and veterans go back a long way. When World War I began when the military introduced motorcycles in the back field … I’m blessed to be a part of the outfit, the Indiana Patriot Guard Riders … We are not all veterans, we’re certainly not all riders, but it is an important group that supports our veterans.
“We’re here today to honor those heroes, our veterans, their achievements, their courage, their dedication and to say thank you for their sacrifices and their family’s sacrifices …”
Bauer noted since 9-11 68,041 troops have given the ultimate sacrifice and more than 200 were from Indiana. “Since World War ll, 472,265 men and women have served in the U.S. Military and we as a patriot guard riders have a goal to honor all of them,” he said.
Bauer, a veteran himself, notes the IPG is a diverse group with a mission statement that he read. He provided the brief history of the Patriot Guard Riders, which organized nationally in 2005. He read about who are the IPG riders and what the organization does. In addition to attending funeral services of fallen American heroes, as invited guests of the family and shield the mourning family and friends from any protester or group of protesters, the group goes beyond that.
The IPG is there to send off military personnel being deployed and welcome home veterans. They send care packages to servicemen (75,000 pounds of care packages were sent last year from Indiana alone). They put out American flags honoring veterans at events and funerals. They support the Honor Flights and are there every time a flight leaves and returns as well as donating funds to the Northeast Indiana Honor Flight. They support families of deployed troops, making sure they have what they need while the spouse is deployed. They support Wreaths Across America, wreaths at national cemeteries. They also make visits and provide supplies to the VA hospitals and visit veterans in nursing homes.
“It’s important that you know there is someone out there, beyond the government, that is going to take care of you.”
“We dig our veterans, that is all there is to it … 400,000 members nation wide, 4,000 in Indiana.”
The morning’s veterans day service was hosted by American Legion Post 49, and Veteran’s Of Foreign Wars Post 1126.
The service also include music by the Kosciusko County Extension chorus, tolling of the bells, and reading of the names of Legion and VFW members who have died in the past year.
