Tonight was another big night for us cyclists. We arrived in Amery and were treated to a wonderful spaghetti feed with the biggest turn out of people yet. A week prior to our arrival, a concert was put on in order to raise money for our cause. Through a combination of this concert, donations at the spaghetti feed, and many other organizations that contributed, Amery raised around $4,000 for our cause. This is more dollars than the population of Amery which is about 3,000 people. In addition to this incredible donation, we had the treat of getting to talk to many veterans including three WWII vets.
One of the performers from the concert was able to make it to the spaghetti feed, his name is Larry Lee Phillipson. Mr. Phillipson served on the pacific front in WWII and after the war be came a famous musician. He sang three songs for us and read a poem that he wrote about our biking adventure.
Another veteran who served in Vietnam told us about his struggles with PTSD. He was part of seal team 1 and during one of his missions, he and his team landed in the middle of a communist camp. They fought for hours defending themselves while bombs exploded all around killing many people. On his way out of the battle, he and his best friend were boarding a helicopter when one of the blades hit his friend. He was killed instantly. Now every night, the vet relives the horrors of that day and has been unable to recover from the emotional damage from the war. He shared this story so that we could understand what some of these veterans we are riding for suffer from.
This was truly an incredible night. Amery gave us so much through donations and sharing of life stories that I'm sure we will never forget it. So a huge thank you to the American Legion and VFW for hosting us and an especially big thank you to OJ who helped organize all of the events.
Thank you,
Gabby
One of the performers from the concert was able to make it to the spaghetti feed, his name is Larry Lee Phillipson. Mr. Phillipson served on the pacific front in WWII and after the war be came a famous musician. He sang three songs for us and read a poem that he wrote about our biking adventure.
Another veteran who served in Vietnam told us about his struggles with PTSD. He was part of seal team 1 and during one of his missions, he and his team landed in the middle of a communist camp. They fought for hours defending themselves while bombs exploded all around killing many people. On his way out of the battle, he and his best friend were boarding a helicopter when one of the blades hit his friend. He was killed instantly. Now every night, the vet relives the horrors of that day and has been unable to recover from the emotional damage from the war. He shared this story so that we could understand what some of these veterans we are riding for suffer from.
This was truly an incredible night. Amery gave us so much through donations and sharing of life stories that I'm sure we will never forget it. So a huge thank you to the American Legion and VFW for hosting us and an especially big thank you to OJ who helped organize all of the events.
Thank you,
Gabby