The IAFF Fallen Firefighter Memorial

(17 Sept 05)  This past weekend, I experienced a wonderful honor when the Tacoma Fire Department Honor Guard allowed me to accompany them to the IAFF Fallen Firefighter Memorial in Colorado Springs, CO.  

The TFD Honor Guard & Pipers have been such a blessing for the Hero To Hero effort, and the pictures here are our way of saying thank you to some of our favorite Firefighters (& Medics).  

We left from SeaTac on Thursday, and returned last night (Sunday).  In between, we met firefighters from all over North America.  We met families of the Fallen Heroes and shared stories of people we all had in common.   I listened as past visits were relived, and watched as new friends became lifelong buddies.  There were lots of hugs, and plenty of "Hey, remember that time..."  

 I watched the first practice with over 500 Honor Guard members from the United States and Canada, as they formed into their various groups ... readers, presenters, pipers, drummers, axes and poles ... and probably a few I am forgetting.  

It was impressive to watch these representatives from so many places come together, to work as a team, and combine their talents into a ceremony that all who attended will remember for a very long time.   You cannot imagine how unforgettable it was to stand by as all the pipes and drums struck up for the first time, in a huge circle, in a field beside the memorial.  Don't know what it is about those bagpipes that give me goosebumps, but, wow!  Everyone was in their street clothes, and it made you wonder how amazing this would all be when they donned their respective uniforms.  

Between being a driver and taking all of these pictures, I spent most of my time sharing the H2H project ... getting it out to as many departments as possible.  I'm sure I made the TFD crew nuts, but the opportunity to network for Hero To Hero was invaluable. When you have so many requests from troops for these shirts, you do what you have to do to make it happen!  And TFD will deserve much of the credit this year for our success!  

It was very cool that I knew some of the guys there, as we had met on previous national tour stops!  There were reps there from Everett, WA ... Spokane, WA ... Portland, OR ... FDNY ... Orange County, CA ... Anne Arundel, MD ... Chicago, IL ... Phoenix, AZ ... Dallas, TX ... Cleveland, OH ... Fargo, ND ... Sacramento, CA ... and soooo many more, all of them great guys from very supportive houses.  I spent a lot of time visiting with these heroes of ours.  (I truly apologize that I am tired right now, and may have missed some really special folks ... it is exhaustion, and nothing more.  Let me know if I skipped you, and we will fix it!)  

There were some pretty special people I was introduced to, and I carry that as an honor for our group ...  

Jay Bishop, National Honor Guard Commander ... What a great guy!  An Air Force vet, who truly understands what the shirts for our troops mean to their morale.  Loved your heart, it showed in everything you did to make this the event it was!  We look forward to visiting you and yours in Springfield ... thanks for the invite, Jay!  

Kelly Fox, Olympia Firefighter, and President of the Washington State Council of Firefighters ... Kelly had helped Hero To Hero before, we had spoken on the phone and emailed but this was the first time we had met.  He was just exactly as I imagined ... great guy, very personable, and very supportive.  Thanks Kelly, we'll let you get back home and then get with you again.  

Ricky Walsh, a Richland Firefighter and Vice President of the Washington State Council of Firefighters ... When I saw Ricky he looked really familiar, turned out we had met before when we did our WA State "Stomp."  We visited 20 department across Washington State in 2 days, with military families and troops to get shirts and show our thanks ... turns out we stopped at his house along the way.  Richland was extremely generous in their support of Hero To Hero.  We spent about an hour along the way, as they signed their shirts and other items with supportive messages.  Their shirts were part of the H2H '05 shipment, and are on the backs of troops all over the desert.  Thank you Ricky, and Richland Fire!  You all rock!  PS: They brew a mean coffee!!!  ( ;  

IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger ~ We have wanted to meet President Schaitberger for a long time!  We wanted to shake his hand and say thank you on behalf of all the troops who have been recipients of the shirts off the backs of so many IAFF Firefighters.  Being the mother of a son who has already done a tour in the sand, and will likely rotate in again very soon ... morale of a soldier, sailor, airman or marine is imperative, and near and dear to my heart.  I finally got a chance to shake the hand of the man, and tell him Thank You.  He must have heard me, he shook my hand said it was a great thing and gave me a kiss on the cheek ... didn't expect that last bit, but he made me proud in that moment.   

President Schaitberger, thank you!  You will never know what it meant to this Mom.  Hope we get the chance to meet again ... in the meantime, I will visit your firefighters, (and our Heroes) for our troops.  We make a great team!   I was able to make personal contact with folks we will likely visit this next time around on the tour ... like Springfield, KC and Colorado Springs, and Sarnia, to name just a few.  After all of the pictures are posted, I will post the proposed route for our next tour, as promised.  

Speaking of pictures, boy did I take a lot of them!  LOL  I am going to have to post the photos in increments.  I will post the actual ceremony shots first, then let you see all the hard work these folks went through to make this such an amazing moment.   As you go through them, you will see just a slice of what happened.  If you are ever able to make it to the event, I can assure you, you will want to go back!  The firefighters and their families are amazing! 

With rare exception, I have never met a firefighter who did not impress me with their heart, integrity and professionalism.  It is no wonder that the troops look to these people as their heroes, and want to wear their shirts.   So enjoy the photos, feel free to use them for honorable purposes, but please give credit for the shots you use, to HeroToHero.us  

To the Tacoma Honor Guard ... thank you so very much for allowing me to come along.  I hope I was a help to you along the way, and you will have to forgive me for my passion ... it is as important to me as is yours.  

Karen Leming "MS July" ... you know, I think I will just leave you all with that teaser until we get through all the pictures.  But, thank you Karen, we would not be this far without your support.  God bless you, and God watch over your son, Aaron, as he deploys.  We'll be there for him along his journeys ... he too, is one of our Heroes!  

Photos are in no specific order, and you will find some that are similar group shots - cuz there's little worse than a group shot where you are the only person who doesn't look their best.   

Would love to see some of your comments ... and remember, we need your shirts by Valentine's Day.  

Anyway, here goes...  

lj