"The Old Guard"
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Unlike most other charity organizations, Old Guard Riders Inc. has a very broad and ill-defined Mission Statement. Its not that we could not decide upon exactly who we wanted to help or exactly how we thought we could make a difference. We knew from the very beginning that we wanted to help veterans and we wanted to make a difference in their lives in any and every way that their needs and our ability allowed. There are charity organizations across this nation that attempt to fill just about every conceivable need a veteran could have. But like everything else in life, there are gaps and inadequacies in the system. Our mission from the very beginning was to find and fill those gaps and inadequacies to the best of our ability. From the very beginning, Old Guard Riders have been at and participated in the funerals and memorials of America's KIA's. Members of the OGR work closely with State Veterans Services Offices and other charity organizations, including Blue Star and Gold Star organizations. Old Guard Riders, as an organization, was among the first to become involved and sponsor the Missing In America Project within its ranks. OGR volunteers visit funeral homes, mortuaries and cemeteries attempting to locate the unclaimed remains of veterans. These unclaimed remains can remain warehoused on shelves for decades awaiting proper burial. OGR in Arizona laid to rest the first 7 unclaimed remains in Arizona in October 2007. That effort will continue until all veterans' unclaimed remains are properly interred. OGR now sponsors a Veterans' Interment Fund in order to help cover the fees associated with the services provided to the unclaimed veteran. Without the payment of those fees, many unclaimed remains will not be released to be interred. On Memorial Day 2008, a Gold Star flag flew proudly above the Arizona State Capital for the very first time ever. The flag was flown, as it should be, to honor all those who lost their life while in the service of their country. It was flown at the specific request of the Old Guard Riders and the Gold Star Flag was provided by the Old Guard Riders. Legislation was introduced on behalf of the Old Guard Riders to make the flying of the Gold Star Flag on Memorial Day an annual event. At Thanksgiving and Christmas 2008, the Old Guard Riders teamed up with a local outreach program and provided food and manpower to feed not only homeless and needy veterans, but assisted in providing a welcome meal to those in need throughout the entire community. CPL. Isaiah Mays was a Medal of Honor recipient who died in 1925 at the Arizona State Hospital as an indigent. Upon his death, he was wrapped in a sheet and unceremoniously buried in an unmarked grave in the Arizona State Hospital cemetery. In 2009, with the legal assistance and manpower of the Old Guard Riders, CPL. Mays was exhumed from the State Hospital and transported cross country by OGR motorcade to Arlington National Cemetery, where he received his military farewell and now rests as the hero that he was. Memorial Day 2009, Old Guard Riders requested a Gold Star Flag be flown over the Arizona State Capital in honor of SPC Lori Ann Piestewa. A member of the Hopi tribe, SPC Piestewa was the first woman in the U.S. armed forces killed in the 2003 Iraq war and is the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving with the US Army. The flag was later presented to her family at a ceremony on the Arizona State Senate Floor. A few months later, PO2 Stephen Staggs' Mother sent out a request for assistance to exhumed her son's remains from an indigent cemetery for proper interment at a National Memorial Cemetery. Petty Officers Staggs' family was devastated to learn the cost of exhuming and reinterring his remains. The OGR was able to exhume the remains with the assistance of a donated backhoe and the volunteer OGR manpower. PO2 is now interred within the Arizona National Memorial Cemetery in Phoenix. The Old Guard Riders have been repeatedly invited to provide motorcycle escort for the AVTT Viet Nam Traveling Wall as it makes its journey back and forth across this great land. We have been honored to be a part of this great program. OGR members and chapters across the country are stepping up to the plate whenever and wherever a veteran's need arises. OGR has initiated and supports food banks, handicapped veterans' resource lockers, veterans' legislation, combined outreach programs, PTSD Awareness seminars and so much more. Old Guard Riders' chapters, such as those in Northern California, Oregon and Massachusetts, are pioneering programs that have become the template and gold standard for other such programs across the nation. The members of these and other OGR chapters continue to prove that dedication and determination achieve incredible results. Whenever and wherever there is a discernable veterans' need, Old Guard Riders Inc. will be there to initiate, sponsor, support and/or coordinate an effort to fill that need. We Can Make A Difference We must make a difference. The lives and wellbeing of our veterans depends on it. With your participation and financial support, we will make a difference. In conclusion, I would like to thank all of the other veterans organizations for their outstanding efforts on behalf of our veterans. By each doing all that we can, and working together, we are making a difference. "About one-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services. Current population estimates suggest that about 131,000 Veterans (male and female) are homeless on any given night and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year. Many other Veterans are considered near homeless or at risk because of their poverty, lack of support from family and friends, and dismal living conditions in cheap hotels or in overcrowded or substandard housing. Right now, the number of homeless male and female Vietnam era Veterans is greater than the number of service persons who died during that war -- and a small number of Desert Storm veterans are also appearing in the homeless population." United States Dept Of Veterans Affairs |
Table of Contents
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Its About the Veteran |
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Copyright 2007 Old Guard Riders Inc. All rights reserved.
